Petrom to be privatised next year

The largest Romanian company, SNP (National Oil Company) Petrom, currently owned by the state, will be put up for sale next year, Privatisation minister Ovidiu Musetescu said at the end of last week.

“The year 2002 will bring the privatisation of public utilities and of SNP Petrom,” Musetescu stated.

Petrom is 93.2% held by the Ministry of Industry and Resources (MIR), which has also tried to privatise the company by a share capital increase last year.

The attempt failed as no appropriate bids were submitted. The best financial bid was submitted by a Romanian consortium comprising several businessmen: Dan Voiculescu (Grivco), Gelu Tofan (Tofan) and Sorin Ovidiu Vantu (Gelsor).

Certain analysts and even international financial bodies (the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund) have requested the “split” of Petrom in order to make privatisation easier. The supporters of this idea claim that large European companies in this field are mainly interested in the gas station network and the exploited fields, not in the refineries, and that bulk privatisation will be difficult to attain.

Petrom comprises the former Peco network of gas stations, two refineries (Arpechim and Petrobrazi), drilling or services companies. Over the past few years, Petrom has expanded internationally, in the exploitation and trading areas.

However, trade unions are strongly opposing Petrom’s split. Liviu Luca, Petrom trade union leader, has repeatedly said that 30,000 people will attend protest marches, in case separate privatisation is enforced.

“We will make sure that nothing wrong happens in the oil industry,” Andrei Grigorescu, state secretary with MIR, said on Saturday.

Petrom posted gross profit worth 980 billion ROL in H1 this year, lower as compared to the year-ago period. The company’s share capital amounts to more than 39,100 billion ROL. The company derives annual turnover of approximately 2.5 billion dollars.