The current CEO of Rompetrol is Sadoukhas Meraliyev, who took this job in the summer of 2009, after the group was fully taken over by Kazakhstan’s KazMunayGas. In the wake of this move, Rompetrol became Kazakhstan’s biggest foreign bet in the country’s 20 years of independence. Overall investments in Rompetrol, which include the value of the transaction, amount to around EUR4 billion.
In 2009, Rompetrol’s management team was completely changed, with almost all Romanian executives being replaced with Kazakhs.
According to market sources, Meraliyev will not be the only one to be changed in Rompetrol’s management. Company representatives have not provided any official statement on this information.
Primary objective: a big refinery
Before taking over as CEO of the Rompetrol group, Meraliyev was deputy general manager between 2008 and 2009, during the time when businessman Dinu Patriciu still held on to a 25% stake in the oil company. According to his CV, Meraliyev has over 25 years’ experience in the oil sector, with one of his major projects being the reconstruction of the Atyrau refinery in Kazakhstan, a facility controlled by KazMunayGas. In fact, Meraliyev’s major objective for his mandate in Romania has been to boost the refining capacity of Petromidia refinery, Rompetrol’s main asset. Petromidia should be able to operate at a capacity of 5 million tons as of this autumn.
Losses still linger
“The first team from Kazakhstan came here in 2008. We analyzed everything and decided we had to meet environmental obligations. We implemented 149 procedures to get all the permits. Out of the 58 legal entities that made up the Rompetrol group, there are only 42 left today and in the end we will reach 25. (…) The modernization of Petromidia will be finalized in September 2012 and its refining capacity boosted to 5 million tons,” said Meraliyev in his latest press interview.
The problem is that despite the investments made and the restructuring processes implemented, Rompetrol continues to refuse to make a profit. Last year, the losses of Rompetrol Rafinare (Petromidia) reached EUR170 million, although the company’s turnover rose by 43% to RON10.2 million (EUR2.3 billion).
A year rich in changes
The CFO of the Rompetrol group himself recently said he expected the business environment to continue to be very tough in the first half of this year, so cost cutting would continue. CFO Dmitry Grigoryev said after overall costs of around $860 million at the time of the acquisition, the Rompetrol group had reached costs of around $670-680 million in 2011, with a further $100 million to be cut this year. (EUR1=USD1.3254; EUR1=RON4.3712)
(English version by Daniela Stoican)