Another American business goes down the drain

It seems Romania is not quite the best place for the major American businesses, yet: the leading propane distributor in the US, UGI Corporation ($2.5bn in annual revenues) and its partners have decided to back out of the project for building a Constanta-based terminal to import liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
This $100 million venture was launched in 1996 and advertised as a major event back then.
US-based UGI Enterprises (UGI Corporation branch), Energy Transportation Corporation and North American World Trade had teamed up with the former utility regies autonomes Romgaz, Renel and Rompetrol (now controlled by businessman Dinu Patriciu).
The project specified that, following completion of the terminal located in Cernavoda, an about 200 km duct was supposed to be built in order to carry the LPG to Bucharest. The LPG should have been taken over by Romgaz to cover the consumption peaks throughout the winter season and by Renel in order to provide fuel to thermal power plants in Bucharest. This would have indirectly resulted in an alternative to the natural gas imports from the Russian Federation.
“UGI and the other American partners backed out of this project because, first of all, Romgaz – the main client of the terminal, was unable to commit to a long-term contract, which would have allowed this project to secure funding,” Bradley Hall, UGI Enterprises chairman told Ziarul Financiar.
Hall explained Romgaz could not take part in the project because of the delays caused by the restructuring of the energy sector and that every Romanian partner pulled the plug on financing. UGI lost more than one million dollars in this terminal business, with its stake in the company managing the project, Black Sea LPG Romania SA, amounting to 25%.
Following the split of Renel and Romgaz into several companies, the project ended up at Transgaz (the natural gas carrier in Romania) and Termoelectrica.
The majority shareholder of the two companies, the Ministry of Industry and Resources (MIR) is still regarding this project as a priority, but says it has not been carried out because the Americans backed out.