Rompetrol extends its car LPG network

Rompetrol Gas, The Rompetrol trade division of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) of the Rompetrol Group extends its national network for the distribution of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for vehicles by taking over the profile assets of the company group Crimbo.

“In the first stage, Rompetrol Gas shall lease for 5 years the 150 trading stations of car LPG and on the expiry of the period it shall purchase such assets. The transaction supports the objective of the company for 2008 to consolidate and extend its activities both in Romania by finalizing this year total investments of over USD 20 million and within the region by purchasing in June the majority share stock of MoldInterGaz Moldova” declares Toma Veron, managing director of Rompetrol Gas.

Within the following period, Rompetrol Gas shall conclude supply contracts with the operators of the concerned locations and by the end of the  year, it shall identify the necessary investments in order to integrate the new stations within the Rompetrol network both in operational view and in order to align the visual identity in compliance with the standards of the Group.

“According to the contractual provisions, the value of the transaction is confidential. We have to consider the fact that on the specialized market from Romania have been registered during the last 2 years very many mergers/purchases and even the appearance of a new player. Thus, it can be said that the market is growing up by consolidating the players and the main beneficiary is the customer by the increase of the quality and diversity of products and services” adds Toma Veron.

The Company is currently operating a number of 70 points of trading car LPG, more than 5,000 points of distributing gas cylinders and 2 LPG bottling stations in Constanţa and Arad and by the end of the year it is to open a similar one in Bacău. Rompetrol Gas estimates for this year to reach a turnover of approximately USD 100 million, increasing versus 2007 when it registered a level of USD 54 million.

The Company introduced in June in the Constanţa municipality a new home delivery service of the Rompetrol gas cylinders that fulfills the wishes of the customers by ensuring the quality of the offered products and by reducing the delivery time to maximum 24 hours. The Company shall also invest over USD six million to replace the own gas cylinder park, considering that on the specialized domestic market can be also found assets that are approximately 50 years old.