25th May
2007
More than EUR 1 bln for refineries modernisation
Petrom, the largest oil and gas producer in South Eastern Europe, yesterday announced
its first achievements of the modernisation and revamping process in refineries,
to be carried out until 2010.
The strategy for the modernisation of Petrom refineries, reaffirmed in October
2006, needs investments of more than EUR 1 bln, so that Petrobrazi and Arpechim
will become more efficient and will supply products that meet the EU requirements.
“We have a clear vision as to Refining business; even if our refineries
are not very efficient presently, their reconfiguring process and far reaching
investment programs will allow us to operate under optimal conditions and the
results will be remarkably improved”, said Jeffrey Rinker, member of the
Executive Board of Petrom, in charge of Refining. Petrobrazi will be the most
modern and efficient refinery in Romania and its capacity will increase from 4.5
M tons/year to 6 M tons/year. The refineries utilisation rate will go up to 95
per cent (at the end of 2006, the refineries utilization rate was 86 per cent),
and the diesel production of Petrobrazi will increase to 2.1 M tons to supply
expected increase in market demand.
The most important projects developed in Petrobrazi target the expansion of the
capacity of atmospheric and vacuum distillation unit, the modernisation of the
gas separation unit and a new hydrogen plant which helps at the reduction of sulphur
content and pollution agents, modernization and capacity increase of naphtha processing
units – to improve the gasoline blend quality. Also, the utilities, energy
and water system will be modernised and new tanks will be built or modernised
in order to increase operational flexibility.
Environment protection is one of the important components of the strategy and
the investments will also focus on reducing the sulphur oxides emissions.
The investments in Arpechim aim at improving energy efficiency and optimizing
product mix. The most important projects focus on the system for the gasoline
blending in line, on the improving of the production system and utilities distribution,
the improving of the gasoline quality according to the standards and the revamp
of the tanks farm.
The installation of new oil and oil products transportation pipelines will secure
the flexibility of the crude supply network and the synergy between the two refineries,
under the best operation and logistics conditions, reads a Petrom press release.
Source: Nine O'Clock
CEC privatisation: not earlier than 2009
The Savings Bank (CEC) will not be privatised in the near future, first the bank
will be developed, with a good quality management, declared on Thursday the Minister
of Economy and Finances, Varujan Vosganian.
Maintaining CEC in the state portfolio does not mean a reserve towards privatisation,
because Romania privatised over 90 per cent of the banking system, said Vosganian,
in a press conference organised for the presentation of the new strategy of the
bank.
The quality of the management is more important now for CEC than the nature of
the shareholders, estimated the Minister of Economy and Finances. “Nobody
doubts the Government’s opening for privatisation, thus the privatisations
for the sake of privatisation are no longer made,” said Vosganian.
CEC President, Radu Ghetea, said that whatever the decision of the authorities
is – privatisation with a strategic investors, EBRD or IFC, like in the
case of BCR, or on the capital market – it cannot be achieved before the
end of 2009, concurrently with the finalisation of the first stage of development
of CEC, according to the new strategy. Ghetea also added that any of the two variants
could finalize successfully after 2009. CEC privatization was stopped in December
last year, after the state received only one offer, from the National Bank of
Greece, considered too low. The Hellenic bank offered EUR 560 M for the majority
stock. By the end of 2006, the Government increased by around EUR 150 M the share
capital of CEC and pointed out that the bank will be restructured, and will not
be privatised any longer earlier than two years.
CEC, the only commercial bank remaining the property of the state, wants to increase
its market share subject to assets from around 4 per cent to 6 per cent until
2011, the target segment being the population and the small and medium sized firms
from the rural area and the small towns.
The bank also intends to consolidate the market share in the deposits segment
to 7-8 per cent in the same period of time, according to the strategy set for
CEC by the sole shareholder, the Ministry of Economy and Finances, and the new
management of the credit institution.
The bank defined as a new target segment the population and the small and medium
sized enterprises, especially in the rural area and the small towns, with less
than 50,000 population. CEC also wants to hold a market share of 20 per cent for
credits and 25 per cent for deposits.
The bank’s strategy has three stages of evolution, the first of them closing
in 2009. For this stage, the bank will lay emphasis on rendering efficient and
modernizing the operation, and making the current clients constant.
CEC also wants to increase the productivity per employee and the volume of operations,
and also to improve the quality of the development of the clients, to improve
the personnel and to reduce the cost to income ratio.
Source: Nine O'Clock
CFR to let 114 railways in Romania
A Transports Ministry project recently put up for public debate stipulates the
auctioning towards renting for a period of between five to ten years of 114 railways
.
The sections concerned are not inter-operable, namely they only serve local traffic
and are “end of lines” actually, with just a single connection with
the interoperable heavy traffic infrastructure.
The national railway operator CFR is set to rent more than 10 money-losing
railway lines, with contractors to be picked by open bids.
“The rent contracts are concluded for a period of five to ten years depending
on the interval needed to amortise the sums the economic operator pledges under
contract to allot in major overhauling and/or investments in each section and/or
the rolling material required to operate the trains on the said routes,”
the draft document says, which is to be up for debate by government.
The winning contractors must invest both in upgrading the line and train modernisation.
Within 30 days since the future normative act become effective, the Transports
Ministry will update the leasing contact for the management of the railway infrastructure,
so that the CFR could let non-interoperable traffic sections, as well as the
managerial terms of transport services by other economic operators.
CFR will hold bidding for the leasing of non-interoperable lines, on the basis
of a bid book drafted for each, or several, traffic segment(s). The project
does not suppose passenger train traffic will get closed. Unfolding since 2004,
the project saw the ownership of 851 kilometre-long of railway sections, of
the overall 3,324 kilometres, change hands. The substantiation note of the draft
resolution writes, among others, that “the defining, under the terms of
the law, and carrying on of the process of letting the non-interoperable railway
infrastructure creates the possibility for local authorities (county, municipal
etc) to participate efficiently and directly in supporting local railway transport,
where justified.”
Source: Nine O'Clock
Hotels working on strategic partnership with low-cost
carriers
Bucharest luxury hotels with a turnover higher than EUR 100 M per year, are
working on strategic partnership with low-cost air transport operators in order
to improve the poor week-end booking rates, according to the ‘Business
Standard’ newspaper. Local hotels are not 40 per cent booked from Thursday
to Monday compared to 90 per cent on week-days.
The problem with Bucharest, says Franz Rattenstetter, General Manager of the
five-star Crowne Plaza Hotel is that there is a too high offer and too small
demand for hotel accommodation at the week-end. But the situation is bound to
change after the entry to the local market of several low-cost air carriers.
So far, the Bucharest hotels have focused their business on business tourism.
As Romania’s accession to the European Union was getting closer, more
and more international companies had opened subsidiaries in this country. So
the Capital City knew increased inflows of business travellers.
“Tourists are not going to come to Romania if they have to pay EUR 500
only for the plane ticket. The low-cost flights help us a great deal, we expect
more visitors to our city at week-ends,” says the Crowne Plaza official.
“No tourist is going to come to Romania as long as he has to pay EUR 160
for five-star hotel accommodation plus a few more hundreds of Euro for the air
fare. We need to give them competitive rates if we want to attract them here,”
Jonathan Soper, General Manager of the Intercontinental Hotel also says.
The General Manager of the Howard Johnson Grand Plaza shares the same opinion
– the low-cost flights could solve the problem of the hospitality industry
during week-ends. “We are trying to offer special accommodation rates
for the partnership with low-cost operators. We are thinking about Wizz Air
and, of those operating internationally, about Ryan Air and Easy Jet,”
says Peter Craig Martin, General Manager of the Howard Johnson Grand Plaza.
Martin says it will take about a year from the start of such projects to the
moment when notable results can be seen with the hotels’ receipts. “The
first thing is that large low-cost operators come to Romania,” added the
Howard Johnson official. Friedrich Niemann, General Manager of the Athenee Palace
Hilton looks at the entry of important low-cost flight operators as a pre-condition
in a successful strategy designed to transform Bucharest into a week-end tourist
destination. “It depends on what air carrier you work with, but I trust
we’ll see a strong impact when companies such as Jet Air or Ryan Air start
flying people to Romania,” says Niemann.
Bucharest has six five-star hotels: JW Marriott, Athenee Palace Hilton, Intercontinental,
Howard Johnson Grand Plaza, Crowne Plaza and Casa Capsa, with a total number
of around 1,600 rooms. Low-cost airlines such as Blue Air, Wizz Air or My Air
operate locally.
The yearly booking rate in Bucharest stood at 70 per cent in 2006. In the same
region, Sofia had 68 per cent, Budapest 70 per cent and Prague 75 per cent.
Source: Nine O'Clock
Romania 'hots up for US holidaymakers'
American tourists are increasingly looking to new holiday destinations as the
dollar's weak performance against the world's other main currencies continues,
according to reports.
Romania is one of the countries becoming increasingly popular among US citizens
looking for a foreign holiday.
US travel agencies are reporting a steady increase in travellers interested
in a trip to Europe, with new figures showing Americans are moving away from
traditional destinations such as Paris and London when booking their holidays.
Indeed, AAA travel agency bookings showed a drop of 2.4% in travel to western
Europe since last summer.
Meanwhile, bookings to eastern Europe has increased by 55%, with Romania leading
the pack.
The country has seen a 700% increase in tourists from the US, the figures suggest.
AAA Travel vice president Sandy Hughes said better air links to eastern Europe,
alongside positive media coverage and more promotion of the area as a tourist
destination, have boosted its appeal among Americans.
She added: "Many are choosing to visit countries where the dollar stretches
further and the crowds are lighter."
Source: Ready2Invest
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