“Romanian refineries produce excess gasoline compared to the demand, whereas for diesel, around 30% comes from imports. The upgraded unit is very important in the refinery’s modernization process because it will allow us to improve the product mix in order to respond to the market demand,” according to Neil Anthony Morgan, Petrom Executive Board member, responsible for Refining and Marketing.
The main goal of the unit modernization was the technical adjustment in order to process the entire domestic crude production and will lead to increase of the middle distillates yield in the product mix and improve the energy efficiency.
The upgrade project of the crude oil distillation unit was initiated in 2009. Morgan also said this was probably “the most complex operation” in the recent history of the refinery.
Petrobrazi, one of the largest refineries in Romania, has an annual capacity of 4.5 million metric tons. Petrom originally planned to increase the unit’s capacity to 6 million metric tons a year, but decided to adjust production instead after quitting the petrochemical products segment.
OMV Petrom is 51.01%-owned by Austrian group OMV. The Economy Ministry holds a 20.63% stake in the company, while investment fund Fondul Proprietatea (FP.RO) owns 20.11%.
The company reported a record first-quarter profit of 1.38 billion lei (EUR381 million), 65% higher on the year.