The appointment came after Urzica, 40, spent almost four years as finance manager of Austria’s OMV, Petrom’s majority owner, a position that put her in charge of the development of exploration and production operations of the group in several African countries.
In her new position with Petrom, Mihaela Urzica will run a 12-people department, which serves as a kind of dedicated in-house statistics institute, which collects data from the company’s own sources, analyses trends and moves of the heavyweights in the oil industry and proposes strategic directions to the Petrom management. Mihaela Urzica reports directly to Mariana Gheorghe, Petrom’s chief executive officer.
Urzica’s term begins at a delicate moment for Petrom, as the company is affected by the oil price slump and by the difficult energy market.
“In terms of strategic directions, OMV Petrom will keep the strategy announced for 2021, but the implementation rate may suffer some delays due to the context,” Mihaela Urzica said.
“The major decisions will remain. I think quotes will stay at $50 to $60 this year. What happened in 2008 was a global crisis, now it’s an industry crisis. It’s a different sort of crisis.”
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)