The privatizations will continue as scheduled and the Energy Interests Management Company (S.A.P.E) has already been registered with the Trade Registry and currently groups the minority interests Electrica still has in its privatized branches.
The minister does not rule out establishment of energy companies relying on a production mix, but that will only be decided after the strategy has been devised.
Nicolescu says the management of the energy companies, including those that will be privatized will remain the Department for Energy’s job even though the government on Wednesday approved the establishment of the Department for Privatization and Management of State’s Interests, a structure designed by former Energy Ministry Constantin Nita, who is the Economy Minister in office.
“The responsibility of managing all the energy companies remains with the Department for Energy, including those companies that might go through privatization processes,” Razvan Nicolescu says.
“Post-privatization monitoring will be done by us, as well, as will attracting investors. The Privatization Department will manage the companies held by the Economy Ministry.”
The institution Nicolescu is now running is actually the ‘baby’ of Constantin Nita, having split from the Economy Ministry while Varujan Vosganian was economy minister. Nita took the ‘gold mine’ subordinated to the Economy Ministry, so the Department for Energy got to manage all the state-run energy companies.
Early in March, the Department for Energy got a new head, Razvan Nicolescu, who had been corporate affairs director with Romania’s largest company, Petrom, until the end of February. Nita became economy minister, but actually got to run something more like an empty shell, as the ministry now holds a difficult portfolio comprising companies like Oltchim and CupruMin.
Razvan Nicolescu says he is working on a new energy strategy, and the first draft will be completed this October.
“We already have received 60 comments for the energy strategy from consumers, civil society and the academia. I want to have a first consolidated draft in October. I also want this strategy adopted by political consensus. We have not yet decided whether to hire consultants for the project or not. Anyway, it will be the Romanian government’s job not the consultants’ to devise it.”
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)