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Russian Oil Company Has Strong Rival in Balkans

Oil&Gas Materials 28 August 2007 12:41 (UTC +04:00)
Russian Oil Company Has Strong Rival in Balkans

Kazakhstan, Astana / corr Trend K.Arinova / The Rompetrol Group NV has sold 75% of its shares to Kazakhstan's state-owned energy company, KazMunaiGaz, resulting in what would appear as strong rivalry within the international oil market, a senior oil official from Kazakhstan said. "This deal could be estimated as a unique challenge," he added.

The Rompetrol Group, which is assessed at an enterprise value of USD 3.61 bln, signed a binding share purchase agreement on a 75% stake on Friday. Rompetrol's previous sole owner Dinu Patriciu will continue to hold the remaining 25% stake. The sale, which is conditional upon the approval of the European Commission, was the culmination of a 7-month private auction process conducted by Morgan Stanley's London-based Energy Group. Patriciu will maintain the position of Executive Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company.

With this acquisition, KazMunayGas will double its refining capability by obtaining access to 2 of Rompetrol's refineries in Romania whilst also increasing its retail infrastructure in European markets by acquiring access to 630 gas stations in 7 European countries ranging from Georgia to France. KazMunaiGas can refine over 400mln tons of oil and sell over 7mln tons of oil products via its own retail trade network in Europe.

Participation by the Russian oil company LUKOil, within the oil and gas trading market of Russia is very powerful. With this respect a source linked to the oil and gas circles said that LUKoil has now got a strong rival in the Balkans.

Approval for the deal must be obtained from the EU's antimonopoly bodies. The consultants for KazMunaiGaz are ABN AMRO Bank and PriceWaterhouseCoopers audit company.

Rompetrol has 8,000 employees in 13 countries. The company's major assets are concentrated in Romanian, France, Spain and Southeast Europe.

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