Rompetrol Rafinare, a company member of the Rompetrol Group, reduced its net loss by 40 percent to USD 78.4 million in the first semester against the same period of last year, while the turnover fell by 13 percent to USD 1.96 billion.
The company registered an 18 percent reduction of turnover to USD 1.7 billion in the refining segment, citing lower international prices for oil products and the planned production shutdown of the Petromidia Refinery in March – April 2013.
“The Petromidia Refinery is able to produce a maximum capacity of 14,000 tons a day following the comprehensive investment programme for modernization and increase of the processing capacity from 3.8 million tons a year up to 5 million tons a year run by the Rompetrol Group and its sole shareholder, KazMunayGas,” said the company in a statement.
The company said Petromidia accounts for more than 40 percent of the refining capacity in Romania, and KazMunayGaz, the Kazakhstan’s oil major that owns Rompetrol Group, has invested USD 1.3 billion in the refinery between 2007 and 2012.
The distribution segment registered a profit of more than USD 320,000 after the company ramped up the sale channels and cut costs. The company operates 753 filling stations.
Romepetrol Rafinare’s fuel sales on the domestic and foreign markets were 1.2 million tons out of the total processed amount of 1.6 million tons. The company slightly increased the refining capacity to 82 percent.
“Although the refining margin is better than the same period of last year, the company’s financial results continued to be negatively influenced by the unfavorable market conditions that caused low values for the Brent/Ural differential and for the quotations of the main oil products obtained,” stated the company.
The planned closing of Petromidia lead to a 22 percent reduction of Rompetrol Petrochemical’s turnover to USD 103 million. The petrochemicals arm narrowed its loss by 60 percent to USD 7.1 million.
Ovidiu Posirca