The company is working on a plan to enter fuel retail with its own chain of gas stations to grab a slice of the EUR10 billion market.
Oscar Downstream of businessman Alin Niculae is one of the biggest entrepreneurial businesses in Romania. Beyond the local retail segment, Oscar Downstream says it is looking at the whole region.
“We are now developing a concept, working on a brand, we have a clear strategy to get into retail, but do not want to reveal figures, a set number of stations and a size of the network,” says Ovidiu Irimies, chief executive officer of Oscar Downstream since July.
“We conducted a market survey and customers liked the idea of coming to traditional Oscar stations that also sell something else besides diesel, very much.”
Irimies has a significant experience in the oil and gas industry, having worked in sales management or logistics positions in such companies as Shell Romania, MOL Romania and MOL Group since 1999.
More than 2,000 gas stations are in operation in Romania and OMV Petrom owns most of them, 550. Second largest gas station owner is Rompetrol, followed by MOL Romania.
Oscar Downstream posted 717 million lei (EUR159 million) revenue in the first half, a decline of 13.6% on the year-ago period, according to Trade Registry data. Net profit on the other hand, stood at RON21.2 million, 11% higher.
The slight decline in revenue was due to the fluctuation in the fuel price and the effects of the introduction of the additional excise duty in 2014, but the sales volume increased and continues to increase because of the company’s focus on direct sales to end customers, Oscar Downstream’s representative said. (EUR1=RON4.5113)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)