The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Rompetrol Group signed a multi-currency loan agreement at the end of 2011, amounting to a total of EUR 55 million, with a one-year maturity.

Rompetrol Group will use the loan as working capital for its two member companies, namely Rompetrol Gas - the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) division, and Rompetrol Downstream - the group's retail division in Romania. Currently, Rompetrol Downstream operates 763 fuel distribution points across Romania, while Rompetrol Gas has 250 auto LPG stations, 7,000 gas cylinder distribution points, and 3 LPG bottling plants in Constanta, Arad and Bacau.

“This year, the group aims to complete the program to increase the Petromidia refinery's capacity to 5 million tonnes of raw material, to strengthen the fuel distribution in Romania, France, Spain, Bulgaria, Moldova and Georgia, and to expand into Turkey and the Ukraine, " said Dmitry Grigoryev, Rompetrol Group’s financial manager.

RBS has operated in Romania since 1995. Currently, the bank has offices in Bucharest, Arad, Brasov, Bacau, Cluj-Napoca, Constanta, Craiova, Galati, Iasi, Oradea, Pitesti, Ploiesti, Sibiu, Targu-Mures and Timisoara.

Rompetrol Group is owned by KazMunaiGaz and operates in 12 countries. The majority of assets and operations are in France, Romania, Spain and South-Eastern Europe.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Rompetrol)