Petromidia profits higher than expected

Rompetrol Rafinare (Petromidia) posted $290 million turnover for the first quarter of 2004, the company officials announced. EBITDA in Q1 was $14 million (about 30% higher than anticipated in the budget) out of the $18 million group-wide. EBIT reached some $3.5 million, three times higher than budgeted. The Q1 results show the group could come to total $1.6-$1.7bn turnover, given that Rompetrol’s officials rely on an annual average price of $27-$28/barrel for the Ural crude. “In two years, Rompetrol will become a regional player with $3.5bn in turnover. We do not want any more than 28% of the Romanian market or 20% of the Bulgarian market, but want 3%-4% of Turkey’s market, which has over 74 million consumers and is growing fast. We are interested to expand in the Balkan Peninsula, and have $25 – $30 million allocated for this purpose this year,” said Dinu Patriciu, Rompetrol group chairman and main shareholder. To turn Petromidia Refinery into a profitable business, Rompetrol’s strategy was based on processing Ural crude (cheaper than the Brent crude by up to $20/tonne) to produce Euro fuels, and on gaining as many consumers on a captive market as possible. ZF