ALREADY FIVE YEARS OF DELAY Florin Cîţu, PNL: "Ponta and the PSD government should have raised the stake of the state in Petrom"

It's been already five years since Victor Ponta and the PSD government should have raised the state's stake in the biggest Romanian company, OMV Petrom, Florin Cîţu, the vice-president of the Budget an Finance Commission of the Senate wrote on Facebook, alluding to the obligation of raising the company's capital with the plots of land contributed by the state, according to the privatization contract.

"We are talking about the value of the land, which once incorporated into the company's share capital, would have increased the stake of the Romanian government, meaning ours, in this major company. To say nothing of the dividends that the government should have collected and which would have perhaps allowed us to reduce the social security contributions for companies, which I proposed in the Parliament", Cîţu wrote.

The Ministry of Energy recently told us that it had reiterated through several addresses the request for OMV Aktiengesellschaft Austria, as buyer and majority shareholder, to do all the due diligences needed for obtaining all the ownership right certificates (CADP) for the plots of land in question owned by Petrom OMV and for which no CADPs have not yet been obtained. in order to perform the second share capital increase at OMV Petrom.

At the end of last year, the Ministry of Energy, led at the time by Victor Grigorescu, told us that Petrom still has to obtain ownership deeds for 0.78% of the total plots of land and only once it has 100% ownership of them would it be able to perform the share capital increase.

The issue of the share capital increase of OMV Petrom has also been raised by Dan Paul, the president of the Association of Brokers, who wrote to the Court of Auditors that the Financial Oversight Authority (ASF) could intervene, through the legal means of action it has available, to ask OMV PETROM to proceed with the share capital increase through a contribution in kind with the equivalent value for which the Romanian state has obtained the deeds of ownership.

Petrom received an ultimatum from the Romanian authorities in 2014, concerning the share capital increase, and the management of the company committed to do the necessary diligences, but the share capital increase was left hanging.

"BURSA" wrote, in August 2015, that what is at stake is the price for which OMV can preserve its 51% interest in Petrom, because the contribution in kind will be recorded in the account of the Romanian government, thus increasing its stake in the company. Some sources were saying, at the time, that OMV was willing to contribute 12.7 million Euros to the increase of the share capital of "Petrom", according to the market value of the plots of land, calculated at the moment of the operation, while the Romanian government was expecting 50 million Euros.

Florin Cîţu alleges a deal between OMV and PSD, on that matter, as recently, the government proposed Mihai Busuioc, the current secretary general of the Government, for a new seat on the Supervisory Board of Petrom.

Florin Cîţu commented: "I see that Dragnea and PSD aren't saying anything about this theft that they are actually concealing themselves (ed. note: the postponing of the increase of the share capital of Petrom with the plots of land). Even more, they have appointed the secretary general of the government on the Supervisory Board of Petrom. Is that legal? Isn't that a conflict of interest?

I can also give you the explanation. Do you remember Dragnea's visit in Vienna during the electoral campaign? The man met with the Austrian chancellor. Do you get who sponsored the visit? But they did not sponsor the entirety of it. The other sponsor must be sought, without hypocrisy, in the Romanian forests. About those things, Dragnea and the PSD government aren't saying anything.

I intend to call the secretary general of the government before the Budget and the Finances Commission of the Senate where I am going to ask him why the PSD isn't doing anything to get back that percentage in Petrom, how big has the damage become since the time of the Ponta government, and who answers for all that.

To the PSD and Dragnea, the multinationals are only good for sponsorships".

PSD president, Liviu Dragnea, met on November 24th, 2016, with Austrian chancellor, Christian Kern. The PSD leader provided details about his visit in Austria in an interview made by Realitatea TV: "I received the invitation from the chancellor. I sent our program to every embassy and the chancellor wanted to talk about it, he thought it was interesting, especially since he also supports the growth of the middle class, spending the public budget on investments that generate well paying jobs and a stable economic growth, an equitable allocation of the economic growth, which would be felt by citizens in their pockets".

Aside from the lenience of the government on the matter of the increase of the share capital of Petrom, the company has even more influence with the current government.

In the last two months, PM Sorin Grindeanu had two official meetings with the delegation of the consortium made up of ExxonMobil and OMV Petrom, as the market expects a new oil royalties law.

The PM stressed the openness and determination of the government to support the projects for investments in developing new sources for the production of offshore hydrocarbons, in order to ensure Romania's energy security, as well as the competitive and durable exploitation of the energy resources, according to the press release of the government.

Moreover, the Minister of the Economy, Mihai Tudose met last Wednesday, with the mission of the Romanian Association of Oil Exploration and Production Companies (ROPEPCA) led by Harald Kraft, with which he has discussed the royalties in the oil sector and the methods for approaching the new royalties law. The Minister of the Economy announced that he has agreed that, during the drafting of the law of royalties there would be a dialogue in the interministry group created in the ministry, and ROPEPCA was invited to send in its opinion.

The new law of royalties is set to replace the current system for the exploitation of oil and gas resources, a system established since back in 2004, when Petrom was privatized.