US company Enron Corp, the world’s largest electric power producer, decided to cut Romania from the list of its subsidiaries in Central and Eastern Europe, after the failure posted by one of its businesses in the field of natural gas.
Two years ago, Enron had decided to enter a joint venture with SNP Petrom, the national oil company. Each of the two partners held a 50% stake.
Enron started this business in order to import natural gas in Romania, hoping that it could use Distrigaz pipeline network. Petrom was supposed to be the main beneficiary of the gases imported by Enron.
The Americans failed to get access to the pipelines and, subsequently, a company that initially was supposed to work for ten years saw one of its shareholders leave, after only two years of activity. “”They (Enron, i.e.) said they were still interested in Eastern European countries, but they would look for countries where they can do business,” Petrom spokesperson Gabriel Nastase told Ziarul Financiar.
Enron Capital BV, the branch of the US group that entered the joint venture, offered its stake to Petrom for free and without future financial claims, according to Nastase.
“We are currently looking for an investor willing to maintain this business and to take over the stake previously held by Enron. As Enron did not make large investments in Romania and their expenses were quite low, they will not lose much after the withdrawal,” Nastase said.
Petrom last year extracted 6.17 billion cubic metres of natural gas and the volume is expected to go up to 6.28 billion this year. Romania is currently an importer of natural gas and the largest business is operated with Russian partners.
Enron, a group that produces and supplies electric power, registered 200 billion dollars in turnover last year.
The privatisation of the largest Romanian company, SNP Petrom, was postponed for at least another year, according to statements of government officials. “Petrom privatisation is not an urgent issue,” Dan Ioan Popescu, Industry and Resources minister, said last weekend. According to him, SNP privatisation will be analysed over the next period, but the most efficient solutions to sell the company will be sought starting with 2002.