Romanian Petrom Deems Gas Use More Convenient For Electric Pwr Production

Petrom said the gas should target the future 860-megawatts power plant at Brazi, near the capital city Bucharest. The power plant in Brazi will be built by a consortium made up of General Electric and Greek engineering specialist Metka, and is worth over EUR400 million.

The plant’s construction is estimated to begin early-2009 and to be finalized in 2011.

"By adding value, it is more convenient to use the gas in the electric power plant rather than to supply it on the market. We could meet the energy demand in 2012 by this power plant. Anyway, most of the used gas target the electric power production," Gheorghe also said.

Petrom’s gas output reached 5.75 billion cubic meters in 2007, down 3% compared with 5.91 billion cubic meters in 2006. By distributing 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas to the thermal power plant, the market will face a gas shortcoming that should be covered through additional imports.

Petrom’s representatives said Wednesday the company mulls producing electric power from renewable sources, fueled by the country’s limited electric power resources.

By approaching both natural gas and electric power resources as well as by developing projects in the renewable energy field, Petrom will make the medium-term transition from an oil and gas company to an electric power one, they also said.

The final energy demand is seen 46% higher by 2020 compared with 2005, at almost 50% higher imports, compared with 27% in 2005.

Romania’s  limited oil and gas reserved could cover the country’s demand for another 14 and 15 years, respectively, at an output rate of 5.2 million tons of oil per year and at 12.5 billion cubic meters of gas.

Petrom will make some EUR1.5 billion annual investments over the next three years, EUR800 million of which target the oil and gas output in Romania and Kazakhstan, and EUR150 million the exploitation operations countrywide and abroad.

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.

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