Basescu told private television Pro TV that Petrom’s policy “isn’t fair”, and added he held talks on this matter with Petrom representatives.
“You can’t keep repeating the price of oil is $120/bbl, when you extract it from Romania with $16/bbl. This is lack of fair-play,” said Basescu.
Petrom announced in February its net profit rose 72% to a record 3.76 billion lei (EUR887 million) in 2011, fueled by higher crude oil prices and lower costs.
In 2010, Petrom, the Romanian arm of Austria’s OMV (OMV.VI), reported a net profit of RON2.2 billion.
Petrom said consolidated sales rose 21% on the year to RON22.6 billion (EUR5.3 billion) in 2011, largely boosted by higher oil and fuel prices and increased gas sales volumes. The results were partially offset by the negative impact from oil price hedges. (EUR1=RON4.354)