Mariana Gheorghe: Caspian Sea area is our target

Petrom, the largest company in Romania, which is now controlled by Austrian petroleum group OMV will focus on “internationalising” its operations. Its goal is to create a strong presence in the area surrounding the Caspian Sea.
“Our goal is to become the leader of the petroleum and gas sector in Southeast Europe. We are only the biggest producer in this region for now. As part of the strategy to internationalise operations, we want Kazakhstan to become a core business region alongside Romania. The Caspian Sea area is our target,” Mariana Gheorghe, chief executive officer of Petrom since mid June, told ZIARUL FINANCIAR.
“We want to boost production of oil in Kazakhstan to 30,000 barrels a day,” Petrom’s official adds.
“The targets include Turkmenistan and other countries in that area. We are also looking at the Russian market, where we could enter by means of an acquisition. We will take the specificity of each market into account and the local climate. There is an acquisition strategy in place for positioning on the market depending on opportunities,” says Mariana Gheorghe.
Petrom’s expansion interests also target the Black Sea region and Ukraine.
“Our plans in the Ukraine may concern retail or exploration and production operations, as there are opportunities in the gas sector,” Petrom’s representative says.
The new head of Petrom, who had previously worked for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for 13 years, will now be directly in charge of the strategy, which used to be one of the duties of the deputy chief executive, a position held by Austrian Werner Schinhan.
“I took on new responsibilities related to the company’s strategy. The first step I took at Petrom in my CEO position was to establish a strategy division. We don’t have a coordinator for the strategy division yet. We are now recruiting,” Mariana Gheorghe stated.
Schinhan will begin coordinating the gas division, established last year, which had reported to Gheorghe Constantinescu, the former CEO of Petrom until mid June.
Mariana Gheorghe, 50, has worked on many EBRD financing projects for almost every industry there is, from petroleum to piping and is thoroughly familiar with the markets in Eastern Europe, due to this position.
Moreover, she received a seat on the Board of Directors of Petrom after takeover at the hands of OMV in 2004, representing EBRD. Mariana Gheorghe quit this position in spring, when Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, OMV chairman, approached her about becoming Petrom’s chief executive officer.
“I intend to attain the goals in Petrom’s development strategy by 2010 during my term, which include stabilising petroleum and gas production to 210,000 barrels a day and a return on investment of at least 13%,” Petrom’s boss says. She adds another goal is to optimise the company’s profit.