Rompetrol-Vega, higher turnover, higher losses

Rompetrol, a member of the Rompetrol oil group logged more than 1,570bn ROL ($48.2 million) in H1 turnover, that is 76% more compared with H1, 2001.
According to the company’s half-year report, losses went up from 87.2bn ROL in H1, 2001 to 92.6bn ROL ($2.8 million) in H1, 2002. The nine-month data have not been released yet.
The company, established by the merger of the Vega Ploiesti refinery with the Bucharest-based Rompetrol company this year, grounds the losses in the H1 report on the increase in the financing facilities contracted for the purchase of crude oil, which generated additional expenses due to the foreign exchange rate gaps and interests.
Total revenues in the first half this year amounted to 1,756bn ROL compared with 938bn ROL in the same time last year, whilst total spending amounted to 1,849bn ROL in H1, 2002 compared with 1,025bn ROL in H1, 2001.
The report also shows that the short-term debts, exigible in one year, increased to 1,682bn ROL ($51.5 million) compared with 1,136bn ROL in the first six months of last year.
Last year, the Vega Refinery alone posted more than $100 million in turnover, with the profit reaching more than  $500,000.
The refinery will get a bitumen installation, worth $6 million until the end of the year. The main financing source will be a loan granted by the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank.
Turning the installation operational will lead, as the Rompetrol officials feel, to a $20 million annual increase in turnover. The output of the bitumen installation is 150,000 tonnes a year, thus covering at least 60% of the domestic market.
The design of the bitumen installation by the Israel-based Ludan company will be concluded by the end of the year, with the construction works to fall upon Rompetrol Group’s general contractor, Rominserv.
Vega is planning to position itself as the main player on the special petroleum product market in Romania, following completion of an investment plan worth $22 million over the next two years.