Romgaz Forecasts 3.2 Bln RON Turnover

The new management of Romanian-based natural gas producer Romgaz believes that the difficult economic context and the lack of liquidities will not have a major impact on the company. Romgaz CEO Adrian Piteiu told Bursa: "Although our collections decreased in January and February compared to the corresponding months of 2008, our business has not been affected yet. Gas sales to major consumers have decreased, as such customers decided to temporarily close their operations because of the crisis."

According to Piteiu, Romgaz has scheduled the extraction of 5.77 billion cubic meters of gas this year and forecasts a turnover of some 3.2 billion RON and a gross profit of 750 million RON. "The priorities of Romgaz for 2009 include further business development in partnerships for domestic objectives, such as the partnership with Wintershall AG to explore the Transylvania South Block, or the ones with Amromco and Schlumberger Logelco for the rehabilitation of natural gas production in an advanced stage of depletion in Muntenia and Laslau Mare in Transylvania.

"We also have similar partnerships with Aurelian Ltd for the exploitation of several perimeters in Moldavia. We also want to develop business in partnerships for foreign objectives, such as our association with Aurelian in Slovakia and Poland. We also seek cooperation with other companies of an international scope," Piteiu added. Other objectives of the Romgaz management are to optimize the decision-making process in the organization, to optimize the use of existing human resources and to optimize the potential of the gas storage facilities by promoting stimulating price policies for gas storage. Adrian Piteiu also wants to an overall optimization of operations by adopting and preparing the certification of the integrated management system - quality, occupational health & safety, environment care.