Swapping at least part of Petromidia’s debts to the general consolidated budget for equity is merely a theoretical solution, which the Finance Ministry does not seem very eager to apply, government sources say.
The Exchequer has recently concluded a comprehensive audit of the Petromidia refinery, which brought out “quite a number of irregularities,” according to the above-quoted sources.
The largest refinery in Romania registers more than 300 million dollars in debts to the budget, recent evaluations show. Petromidia has benefited from debt and late charges rescheduling under Ordinance 40/2002, but failed to comply with the payment schedule. Consequently, the company can no longer be included in the debt-rescheduling programme.
Finance minister Mihai Tanasescu believes a solution may still be found in the sense that the debts accumulated prior to privatisation should be re-evaluated and those accumulated after that time should be paid. He also quotes the option of “dealing with the entire set of debts over a longer period of time.”
The heaviest pressure for clearing up the debt situation at Petromidia comes from the new shareholder of Rompetrol (the owner of the Petromidia refinery) – Austrian oil group OMV. The Austrians bought 25.1 percent in the private oil group run by Dinu Patriciu last fall and committed to make investments in Petromidia.
The management of Rompetrol, the second-largest player on the domestic oil market suggested the Finance Ministry this spring to have the refinery supply oil products to the state reserve in order to make up for the historical debts. Moreover, the State could come to hold a stake in Petromidia, up to 35 percent.
Rompetrol Group bought the controlling interests in Petromidia in 2001. The price was 50 million dollars to be paid in five years, along with the obligation to make investments worth 200 million dollars during the same period, as stipulated in the privatisation contract. The investments announced by the officials of the group have exceeded 100 million dollars so far, during which the staff was downsized from 3,600 people to 1,400 people. At the same time, the processing costs per tonne of crude oil dropped from 55 dollars/tonne to 20 dollars/tonne, close to the standards of the refineries in the West, which reach 15 dollars/tonne, the group representatives say.
Rompetrol Rafinare – Complex Petromidia posted preliminary turnover worth 251 million dollars for the first three months this year.
razvan.voican@zf.ro ; adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro