The Petrom oil and gas producer, Romania's largest company in terms of market value, registered a 43 percent drop in profit in 2008, to RON 1.022 billion (€277.5 million). The company posted losses worth RON 1.269 bln (€244.5 mln), mainly due to the provisions set aside for restructuring activities and law suit claims by former and current employees. These provisions raised total 2008 expenses by some 64 percent year-on-year, to RON 17.725 billion (€4.82 bln), compared to a 49 percent annual increase in total revenues, to RON 19.331 bln (€5.25 bln). Petrom's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mariana Gheorghe, said that the local oil market will drop an average 5-10 percent this year, due to the crisis. The company presently has a 45 percent share of the domestic gas station market, which it is attempting to maintain, according to the company official. “We are not yet feeling this crisis, I think it will peak in the second half of 2009, and will continue in 2010," Gheorghe added. OMV, Petrom's owner, registered a net profit of €1.53 bln, down 17 percent, due to the plunge of the price of a barrel of oil, in spite of the fact that sales soared 27 percent, to €25.54 bln. Due to poor results registered in 2008 and the financial and economic crisis, whose effects are becoming increasingly stronger, Petrom's management decided not to grant dividends for the 2008 financial exercise, and use the money for investments. The producer has a maximum annual refining capacity of eight million tons, and some 550 gas stations in Romania. Petrom's natural gas production fell three percent in 2008 year-on-year, to 5.553 billion cubic meters, because of limitations in the gas transportation network, of temporary interruptions in the activity of some industrial consumers, and of the small number of new wells. (S.D., T.V.)
