At the end of last year, Italian oil group Agip was on the brink of leaving Romania due to the financial difficulties encountered by its network of 19 gas stations. The same information spread at the beginning of this year, but company representatives denied it.
“Rumours always have a basis of truth and the company’s Rome-based head officers were quite dissatisfied with the financial results of Agip’s Romanian division, but selling the gas stations from here is out of the question,” one Agip official stated.
The quoted source says that, “according to Romanian accounting standards, Agip’s Romanian division has derived profit over the five years since it was established.
But the international standards, which really matter to us, point out large losses over the same period of time.” Agip chose not to disclose the financial results registered in Romania.
After having decided to remain in Romania, Agip said it would expand. The Italian company intends to open another eight gas stations by the end of August this year, increasing the number of Agip gas stations to 27.
“We are going to open three gas stations in Pitesti, Targu-Jiu and Bucharest this month.
Agip invested 15 million dollars in its distribution network, while the budget pinned another 45 million dollars to be allotted to the network’s expansion,” the above-quoted source specified.
Agip sells fuel, lubricants, oils and other products aimed at car maintenance in Romania. Though the Italians are known for their extraction and refining capacities on the international market, Agip buys the gas from Petrom, while the other traded products are manufactured by the company itself.
“We cannot afford to bring gas produced by us in Romania, because the shipping costs would inflate the price even more. We buy the gas from Petrom and, consequently, our trading price is higher than theirs,” Agip official said.
“It is frustrating that Petrom’s situation is different from the other players’ on the market. The price for which Petrom sells gas to other gas stations is often lower than the price it sells the gas to us,” the above-quoted source concluded.