Rompetrol Georgia organized a trip to Romania for a group of Georgian journalists at the end of October. The delegation visited The Rompetrol Group’s facilities in Constanta, on the Black Sea coast: an oil refinery, a petrochemicals plant and an oil terminal.

The Rompetrol Group operates in 13 countries, including Georgia.

The delegation also met with company president Dinu Patriciu, who talked about the history of the company and shared his thoughts on the development of the energy market.

Rompetrol dominated the Romanian oil industry from its founding in 1974. The company was the international service arm of the Romanian oil industry, Patriciu recalls, and gained particular global market share by exporting equipment.

“In 1989 for instance, 60 percent of all drilling equipment used in the former Soviet Union was manufactured in Romania and exported by Rompetrol,” he said.

Rompetrol was privatized in 1994. By that time, he said, the company was in near-tatters, going downhill over the next four years until it was on the verge of bankruptcy.

“At that time, I bought majority shares from employees and decided to restructure it and transform it into really integrated oil company,” Patriciu explains.

Rompetrol Georgia (RPG), a subsidiary of The Rompetrol Group, was set up in 2005.

According to the Association of Fuel Importers, the Georgian market buys up some 40 000 metric tons of gasoline each month, and 15 000 metric tons of diesel fuel.

“I think the market in Georgia is growing and a real market economy is developing. We see opportunities. We were modest at the beginning but slowly we are growing,” Patriciu explained.

At the moment Rompetrol Georgia has 25 gas stations operating around the country—and Patriciu predicts another 15 to open in the near-term.

In August 2007, Kazakhstani company KazMunaiGas bought a 75 percent stake in Rompetrol.

Speaking about the transaction, Patriciu says, “KazMunaiGas’s resources will help The Rompetrol Group become within two years one of the top ten companies in this field in Europe.”

According to Patriciu, the two strategic partners, KazMunaiGas and The Rompetrol Group, have the same interests and vision of the company’s future.

Based on these interests and vision, The Rompetrol Group will become an integrated company which will connect the Caspian Sea with the Black Sea, Balkans and Mediterranean Sea.

The company will create a kind of bridge to transport energy resources between the Caspian region and Europe. This route will be an alternative to the ones which pass through Russian territory.

From this point of view, Rompetrol’s president says, Georgia’s role will become very important.

Patriciu also sees possibilities for Georgian cooperation with Rompetrol’s oil terminal in Constanta.

“I think there is an opportunity for the Batumi oil terminal to get in closer relations with our terminal in Constanta,” he said.

Moving on to the question of the world energy market, Patriciu spoke of a need to wean Europe off of Russian energy. He offered the idea of building a liquefied natural gas terminal, possibly in Georgia, as one example of an alternative source.

“Georgia is one of the places where it can be done. Rompetrol doesn’t have this planned, but it’s one of my thoughts on the solutions [to European energy dependence],” he said.

Patriciu, one of the wealthiest men in Romania, also gave a glimpse into his investment plans.

“I want to invest my own money in building up companies [in the Balkans]. This can be one of the biggest markets of Europe,” he told journalists.