Petrotel has a refining capacity of 2.4 million tons a year and is one of the only three refineries still operational in Romania out of the ten before the fall of the communist regime. The other two refineries are Petromidia of Rompetrol and Petrobrazi of OMV Petrom.
Lukoil’s facilities outside Russia processed a 2.5% lower volume in 2013, 21.09 million tons, because of the lower production level in Romania, due to the completion of the massive overhaul at the refinery in Ploiesti, as well as in Bulgaria and Italy, amid low refining margins in Europe, according to Lukoil’s 2013 report.
The latest financial data published by the company show Petrotel to have posted EUR1.5 billion revenue and EUR61.5 million loss in 2012. The number of employees halved to 497 in 2007-2012, and the refinery did not post any profit in those years, either.
Last fall, the general manager of the refinery, Andrey Bogdanov said he was expecting losses again, but giving up the operations in Romania was out of the question. Moreover, he expected the economy to recover because it could not go on like that forever, he told one of the few news conferences held by Petrotel Lukoil’s management.
Lukoil also has a fuel retail network in Romania, which consists of 300 gas stations, and has developed renewable energy generation projects.
Energy market watchdog ANRE data show Lukoil got approved for green certificates for a 9 MW solar park on a plot of land that belongs to the Petrotel refinery. The investment started last year. Average investment in one megawatt of solar park stood at EUR1.3 million last year, according to ANRE.
Lukoil also has a joint venture with Italy’s ERG Renew, Lukerg Renew, which owns two wind farms and is also developing 84 MW project Inergia, where it will install 42 turbines with a 2 MW capacity. The project should be completed in the first half of 2014, company officials said.
The company has hydrocarbon exploration operations in Romania, as well, in two deepwater blocks in the Black Sea that cover 2,000 square kilometers. It has not revealed anything about the progress of the drilling on the two blocks so far.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)