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Petrom enters energy trading market

The company has started the construction of the electric power plant in Brazi and will supply electricity by 2011.

Ploiesti - After obtaining the license for supplying electricity Petrom estimates that it will enter the energy trading market by the end of this year, Mariana Gheorghe, the oil company's general director, stated yesterday in a press conference. ‘We are trying to position ourselves on the electricity market. By the end of the year we will enter the energy trade market' Gheorghe stated, being quoted by Mediafax. By 2011 Petrom will build an 860 MW power plant that will cover approximately 8 per cent of the national energy demand.

The investment stands at EUR 500 M. Thus, the company has started the actual construction of the natural gas-burning electric power plant in Brazi, Prahova County. The electric power plant is a Greenfield project developed in conformity with the European Energy Strategy and that observes the EU's environment demands, a company communiqué reads.

‘Our project, in which we have invested approximately EUR 500 M, is an important step not only for the company but also for the electricity market in Romania. After it will come online the Brazi power plant will supply approximately 8 per cent of the electricity produced in Romania and most of that will be destined to the market' Gerald Kappes, member of Petrom's board of directors and responsible for natural gas, energy and chemical products, stated in a communiqué. A consortium formed by General Electric (USA) and Metka (Greece) will build the electric power plant, with September 2011 being the completion deadline.

The power plant will have modern emission-reduction equipment that will allow it to place itself below the European average when it comes to carbon-dioxide emissions. Moreover, the Brazi power plant project will include the construction of a 30-kilometer pipeline that will feed the natural gas to the power plant and of a 3-kilometer high-voltage power line that will connect it to the national electricity grid. The financing of the project comes from both internal sources and two non-guaranteed corporate credits contracted from the EIB and EBRD (EUR 200 M each). Petrom Company is controlled by Austria's OMV since 2004. OMV controls 51 per cent of its shares. The shareholding also includes the Ministry of Economy (20.64 per cent of the shares) and the Property Fund (20.11 per cent of the shares).

OMV does not believe Romania would give up Nabucco project

OMV is not concerned that Romania could give up Nabucco or that it could focus on another natural gas pipeline in order to secure its natural gas supply because the country is ‘a devoted partner' of the project, Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, the President of the Austrian Group, stated yesterday. ‘In the last three-four years Romania was a devoted partner of the project and we are not concerned that it might pull back,' Ruttenstorfer said. He added that he hopes that the final agreement on Nabucco would be signed this summer.

‘The time is as propitious as it could be for Nabucco; the project is backed both by the consortium and by Brussels. The natural gas will be there,' Ruttenstorfer said. The OMV official added that the group is still analyzing the opportunity of building a natural gas storage site in Romania and that OMV is not considering selling the shares it owns in Romania to Russian companies.

 

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Tags: lsquo electricity natural project romania plant power energy market company electric petrom