Romania’s Petrom Starts Building Pwr Plant In Brazi In EUR500M Invest

Petrom is scheduled to begin the power supply in the second part of 2011.

The power plant in Brazi is a greenfield project developed according to the European energy strategy, observing EU environment standards, Petrom stated.

"Our project, in which we will invest around EUR500 million, is an important step not only for the company, but for Romania’s electricity market,” said Gerald Kappes, a manager in Petrom, responsible with the natural gas, energy and chemical products sector of activity.

According to him, the power plant in Brazi will provide around 8% of the electricity produced in Romania.

A consortium made up of US General Electric and Greece’s Metka will build the power plant, which is set to be completed by September 2011.

The 860-megawatt power plant will have 57% efficiency, higher compared with Romania’s current installations of similar power that provide an average efficiency of 30%. In addition, the plant will have modern equipments that will reduce pollutant emissions.

The project will be financed from both Petrom’s own sources and two unguaranteed corporate loans taken from the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, each worth EUR200 million, the company stated.

Petrom decided to build the power plant in Brazi in 2007. 

Petrom is the largest corporation in Romania and the largest gas and oil producer in Southeastern Europe. In December 2004, Petrom was privatized and became a part of OMV AG (OMV.VI), which is the majority shareholder.