Rompetrol Refining Shifts to the Euro 5 Standard

Rompetrol Refining, a company member of the Rompetrol Group, started this month to produce Euro 5 gas (sulfur in a concentration lower than 10 ppm), further to total investments related to Euro 5 fuel range of over USD 40 million.

“It is a new technological performance of Rompetrol Refining and of the specialized Romanian sector, a new step in increasing the operational performances and the profitability of the refinery. The new fuel shall be available starting with January 1 in all the Rompetrol stations in Romania and Bulgaria along with the euro 5 diesel oil, the company producing and trading Euro 5 diesel oil ever since 2005” as Cosmin Turcu, the general manager of Rompetrol Rafinare, states.
 
Through the finalization of the investments estimated for 2008 (approximately USD 121  million) but also through the development of investments projects, Rompetrol Refining shall exclusively produce in 2010 Euro 5 fuels, against the background of the increase of the raw material processing capacity to 5 million tones/year, from 4.1 million tones estimated for 2008 and 1.15 million tones in 2000, before the takeover by the Group. The technological and environmental investments made by the Rompetrol Group during the 2001-2007 period (approximately USD 350 million) enabled the refinery to shift from the production of Euro 2 and Euro 3 fuels in 2002/2003 to exclusively Euro 4 and Euro 5 in 2006.

Rompetrol Rafinare registered in the January-September period a consolidated turnover of USD* 3.76 billion, increasing by 63% as compared to the value registered in the 2007 similar period. At the same time, the operational profit (EBITDA) of the company increased to USD 79 million.

At present, the Rompetrol Group operates over 700 stations in Romania, Georgia, Bulgaria and France. Rompetrol Downstream holds in Romania more than 450 gas stations and 7 deposits for the wholesale activities, being the first network to exclusively trade, ever since 2003, fuels at Euro standards.

* The consolidated financial statements of Rompetrol Refining include the results of Rompetrol Rafinare S.A. and those of the subsidiaries of Rompetrol Petrochemicals S.R.L., Rom Oil S.A., Rompetrol Downstream S.R.L. and Rompetrol Logistics S.R.L. (along with the subsidiaries of Rompetrol Gas S.R.L. and Eurojet S.A.). The presented results are preliminary, not audited and consolidated, and the reporting was made according to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).