Russian-British company TNK-British Petroleum (BP) had submitted, by yesterday morning, the only letter of intent for the privatisation of SNP Petrom, Dan Ioan Popescu, Economy and Trade Minister, yesterday announced.
The deadline for submitting letters of intent is Friday, September 19th. According to the latest information, Austrian group OMV, Hungarian company MOL and Lukoil, the largest Russian oil company, are expected to express their interest in Petrom’s privatisation by that time.
An unexpected bid is likely to come from Occidental, a US group, one of the biggest international players on the oil and gas market, market sources told Ziarul Financiar.
Occidental posted 1.7 billion dollars in 2002’s profit from oil and gas operations alone and might be one of the US companies Romanian officials have mentioned several times over the last few months.
“We are contacted by phone and we are expecting other applications, as well since many companies have expressed their interest in this privatisation,” mentioned Dan Ioan Popescu, who specified that some US groups were also interested.
The minister underlined the fact that there had been “considerable” interest in the privatisation of Petrom. According to him, SNP Petrom’s transfer into private ownership is an irreversible process that could be finalised by March 31st 2004.
The submission of letters of intent will be followed by the analysis of the expressions of interest, and then non-committing letters will be submitted by the end of November.
Popescu also said that the method the Romanian Government chose for the privatisation of the oil company would secure investment sums, reminding that the modernisation of Arpechim Pitesti refinery alone required 150 million dollars.
In August, the Government put up for sale 33.34% in the oil company’s capital, with the buyer set to raise its interest to 51% through a capital increase.
laurentiu.ispir@zf.ro