Petrol - Mol Wants 20% of the Market

Romania is considered to be a market wanted for the development of the distribution network of the Hungarian company MOL, Slavomir Jankovic, Managing Director of the MOL Group, said with the occasion of the Stockholders’ General Meeting in Budapest.

The company plans for the next five years include the increase in the market quotation to 15%. For now, the network of MOL’s gas stations has 130 units and represents 11% of Romania’s market. The amount of investments necessary reaches 70 million euros. The development will be made through network and units acquisitions from individual enterprisers, as well as "greenfield" investments and network exchange. Jankovic didn’t want to specify the names of the competitors with which they could exchange units. MOL’s next target is the reaching of the quotation of 20% of the Romanian market for the fuel distribution. For Romania, the company’s main target is the distribution.

COLLABORATIONS. However, the other opportunities are not being ignored. The company is taking into consideration the possibilities of collaboration with Romanian companies like Petrom, Romgaz or other operators, but it doesn’t exclude the participation in new projects appearing in the area. As for the Hungarian company’s interest in the refinery part, Michel Marc Delcomunne, the group’s strategy director, stated that MOL would study the acquisition possibilities of the quality assets in the region. According to the company’s managers, the possibility of buying the Rafo refinery hasn’t been analyzed. For a short term, there cannot be any discussions about the acquisition of a refinery on the Romanian market, MOL’s president, Hernadi Zsol, considers. In the same time, he doesn’t reject the idea of a strategic partnership with Rompetrol, even though there have never been any negotiations with this company. (Adrian Mihai)