Oil, gas and petrochemicals in Romania

Petrochemicals

BMI has said in a recent report that the failure in the first half of this year to privatise the domestic petrochemicals producer Oltchim is going to weigh on future prospects for Romania’s petrochemical sector. BMI has said that this will be in spite of the improving performance in the local domestic market.

During the first quarter of 2014, BMI has reported that chemicals output in Romania increased 6.1%, however, during the first quarter, Oltchim was reportedly operating at under a quarter of its total capacity which was undermining the company’s profitability when it was looking to privatise. The Romanian government is now reportedly seeking to boost capacity utilisation at the plant to 50%, at which point the plant is likely to break even.

Oil and gas

BMI has said that when it comes to the country’s oil and gas sector, the increasing presence of IOCs in the market is a necessary if the country is to take advantage of its increasingly expensive and technically challenging oil and gas reserves. BMI has also said that oil production saw a return to growth last year for the first time since 1994 and oil consumption in 2013 fell for the fifth year in a row.

The Romanian government, as reported by BMI is currently hinting at increasing oil and gas royalties from the end of this year. No official figures have yet been published, however the National Agency for Mineral Resources has voiced that current levels are insufficient.

Edited from report summaries by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/08092014/oil-gas-romania-bmi-petchem/