April 6, 2005

Romania 's Petrom Plans EUR1B Investments By 2008

BUCHAREST -- Romania 's oil and gas company Petrom SA (SNP.RO) will invest some EUR1 billion by 2008 into modernization, Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer , the Chief Executive of Austria's OMV AG (OMV.VI), the majority owner of Petrom , said Wednesday.

The aim is to increase the company's profitability and to maintain production at the current level of 200,000 to 220,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, Ruttenstorfer said.

Petrom is the largest oil and gas producer in Central and Eastern Europe , with estimated oil and gas reserves of about 1 billion boe . It reported production of 40.315 million of barrels of crude and 6.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas for 2004.

Petrom will invest EUR400 million this year, with EUR200 million being invested to upgrade its exploration and production technologies and EUR200 to upgrade refining units and gas stations.

In 2008, the company wants to have a refining capacity of 58.6 million barrels of crude and to sell 6.5 million metric tons of fuels.

OMV payed a total of EUR1.499 billion last year for a majority stake in Petrom . The Austrian company paid EUR668.8 million to buy a 33.34% stake directly from the Romanian government and EUR830.6 million for a capital injection that raised its interest to 51%.