Romania-based oil and gas company OMV Petrom sold its liquefied petroleum gas bottling subsidiary Petrom GLP, which runs two bottling plants in Romania, at Negoiesti and Timisoara, to Crimbo Gas International, in a deal whose value was not disclosed.

According to OMV Petrom, the transaction will not have an impact on Petrom's financials, being below 10 percent of Petrom's net annual turnover in 2011, or under EUR 530 million.

Following this transaction Petrom exits from the bottling and distribution market but will continue to produce LPG and sell gas cylinders and auto gas through its filling stations. It will also continue to supply LPG from its refinery to the buyer, while Crimbo Gas will supply cylinders and auto gas to OMV Petrom Marketing, the company which runs Petrom gas stations.

“The subsidiary Petrom LPG manages a high number of small clients and has hence high business complexity. This complexity of a non-core business is not in line with our strategy. Therefore, as part of our portfolio optimization process, we decided to reduce the complexity by selling this business line to a specialized company, for which bottling and distribution represents its core business,”said Neil Anthony Morgan, member of Petrom’s Executive Board, responsible for Refining and Marketing.

Crimbo Gas International,which will take over the Petrom GPL business and its 260 employees, was taken over by Dutch SHV from Romania investor and football club owner Cristi Borcea in 2008.

Corina Chirileasa, corina@romania-insider.com

(phoot source: Arhivafoto.ro)