Rapeseed is an example of energy crop used to produce biofuel. Romania’s rapeseed harvest hit an all-time high of over one million tons in 2014, from 423,237 cultivated hectares, nearly double against the previous year.
Colteanu said Romania should focus on biomass considering its huge potential for biomass production, with more than one million hectares of unused lands which could be used for energy crops. By comparison, the surface area of arable land used in Romania reaches 8.3 million hectares, according to the latest census of 2010.
According to Colteanu, Romania is rich in resources and implicitly offers many development opportunities in sectors such as IT, oil and natural gas, energy and healthcare. He also thinks the energy efficiency is absolutely mandatory if Romania wants to meet the objectives agreed upon with the European Union regarding the energy independence.
The GE official said Romania is highly important for General Electric whose local presence spans more than 30 years, but “like any long-term investor,” it is essential to be able to rely on “clear laws and policies, transparency and on consultations with businesspeople.”
He pointed out that Romania also has great potential for investments in the infrastructure, the energy, research and healthcare sectors.
In Romania, GE has a production unit for energy equipment and the Lufkin factory in Ploiesti where it produces drilling equipment for the oil and natural gas industry. It is the only Lufkin production unit outside the USA and the products made here are distributed to GE customers in the Eastern Hemisphere, from Russia to the Middle East and Indonesia.
American group General Electric has been operating in Romania since 1984 and has more than 250 employees. GE operates in more than 100 countries and has some 300,000 employees worldwide.