Oil and gas company OMV Petrom will delay the opening of its new gas fired Brazi power plant in Romania, even though construction work has finished. Final tests were interrupted due to external technical factors.

“Currently a cleaning operation is being performed on some of the power plant’s ancillary equipment, the gas supply pipeline and the gas metering station,” reads OMV Petrom's statement.

The investment in this power plant amounted to EUR 500 million. The power plant is the only new greenfield thermal power plant in Romania after the fall of communism in 1989.

Petrom began construction work on the Brazi plant in 2008. It is the largest private greenfield project of power generation in Romania, having a capacity of 860 MW generated by two gas turbines and one steam turbine. The plant’s flexibility allows the installation of additional wind production capacities in the Romanian system: with the two gas turbines, each of them being able to produce 290 MW, approximately 700 MW can be installed in wind plants. In oil products distribution market, Petrom group is present through a network of approximately 800 filling stations, operated under two brands, Petrom and OMV.

In 2010, the group’s turnover was of EUR 4.4 billion, while its profits were EUR 709 million.

Corina Saceanu, corina@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Sxc.hu)