Oil Terminal misses profit target due to Rafo shutting down

Harbour operator Oil Terminal saw a 63% drop in the net profit last year, while its turnover went down by approximately 5%. Company representatives say the main reasons for this decline were the halting of the operations of the Rafo Onesti refinery and the fact that some investment projects were not carried out. Oil Terminales preliminary net profit stood at 2.22 million RON (0.63 million euros) last year, compared with the 6.05 million RON (1.67 million euros) in 2005. The companyes gross profit was of 2.86 million RON (0.81 million euros), below the level budgeted, of some 3 million RON. “The results in 2006 were below expectations. Firstly, Rafoes shutdown disrupted our activity, and then there were the problems in the Middle East and some of our projects were not approved, which had a negative impact on our results,” stated Mihai Lupu, general manager of Oil Terminal. The companyes turnover stood at 121.5 million RON (34.5 million euros), as compared with 128 million RON (35.3 million euros) in 2005.