Analysts expecting losses for Rompetrol Rafinare

KazMunaiGas, Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil company, took over Rompetrol last year.

Analysts are estimate that Rompetrol Rafinare will close the year in the red. The company posted losses worth $25.4 million (about €18.84 mln) in 2006. Analysts expect a maximum loss of €20 mln this year. The brokerage division of ING Bank is estimating consolidated turnover of $2.19 billion (€1.50 bln) for Rompetrol Rafinare.

Wood&Company analysts, a Czech brokerage company, estimate consolidated loss worth $20 million (€13.77 mln), while Raiffeisen Capital&Investment is forecasting a loss of $19.6 million (€13.50 mln) and consolidated turnover of $2.41 billion (€1.66 bln), 14.5 percent higher year-on-year.

Oleg Galbur, Head of Raiffeisen Capital&Investment’s Analysis Department, estimates earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) worth $105 mln in 2007, 67 percent higher year-on-year.

Dinu Patriciu, President of Netherlands-registered Rompetrol Group, sold 75 percent of the company’s shares at the end of August 2007 to KazMunaiGas, in a transaction estimated to be worth $2.7 billion (some €2.07 bln).