“The company’s strategy for the current year is to expand its network and add as many filling stations as possible in the major cities of Romania and the main international traffic arteries,” said Hamza Karimov, general manager of SOCAR Romania, which currently has 22 gas stations and 338 employees.
“The first SOCAR station of Bucharest was completed in December 2013 and will be officially opened in early 2014,” Karimov also said, adding that 2013 saw the company add another five filling stations to its network in the northeastern area of Romania and start expanding the network beyond the area of Moldova, a strategy it will continue in 2014.
SOCAR officials did not specify the number of stations scheduled for opening this year, or the company’s investment budget.
Besides SOCAR, another newcomer on the Romanian market is NIS Petrol, controlled by Russian giant Gazprom, which holds 13 units according to the latest information available, with another 10 under various stages of construction.
The company aims at a network of 120 filling stations in Romania by late 2015, in the wake of investments worth EUR150 million.
Romania has over 2,000 operational gas stations. The largest network is controlled by Petrom and is made up of almost 550 units.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)