Petrom sees EUR 200 mln growth in Q1

Oil and gas company, Petrom, announced in Q1 sales were at EUR1.17 billion, up 27 percent compared to the same period of 2010. Net profit in line with international accounting standards reached EUR199.1 million, up 4 percent on the first quarter of 2010, mainly affected by a EUR 43 million financial loss.

“The retail market dropped 4-5 percent in the first part of the year. On the one hand, it was caused by the decrease of salaries in the public sector and on the other it was a response to high oil product prices. I am not really optimistic about a rebound in demand this year considering forecasts point to a merely 1-2 percent economic growth for Romania,” said Mariana Gheorghe, CEO Petrom.

Mariana Gheorghe says the closure of Arpechim, which accounted for half of Petrom’s refining capacity and has not been operational for more than a year needs to be put in context, seeing as similar decisions have been made in Europe because of excess refining capacity.

In the first quarter, the international prices of gasoline have increased by 34 percent, which reflected in a 23 percent hike in retail fuels prices. For diesel, the international prices have increased by 48 percent in Q1 which lead to 29 percent hikes in the final prices.

Mariana Gheorghe said basically that if the commercial segment sales begins to recover, this will lead to wage growth or job creation toward the end of the year, the final consumer purchasing power will start to feel the positive impact starting next year.

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