The Rompetrol Group, 15 million tonnes of crude traded through the Midia Port

Bucharest - 02 decembrie 2013 - The Rompetrol Group, through its Midia Marine Terminal (MMT), recently reached a level of more than 15 million tonnes of crude unloaded at its offshore Black Sea terminal, at around 5 years from the commissioning thereof.

“The delivery of 15 million tonnes of crude to the Petromidia refinery is a milestone in the evolution of the Rompetrol group, thanks to the direct connection between the 8.6 km offshore Black Sea terminal and the tank farm of the processing unit. This is on top of the amortization in just 5 years of the USD 100 million investment required to build and commission the terminal, thanks to the optimization of the crude supply process, reduction of unloading times and elimination of processing losses. On average, the costs of transferring the raw materials to the refinery have been reduced by 7 USD/ton as compared to the previous method of supply through the Constanta Port, by both shortening the route with approximately 33 km, and a strict flow control and improvement of the refinery tank farm management (400,000 tonnes)”, declared Ioan Taus, head manager of Midia Marine Terminal.

The threshold of 15.4 million tonnes has been recorded by unloading the oil tank Altai, with a load of around 94,000 tonnes of crude for the Petromidia refinery. This was the 31st ship unloaded at the Midia Marine Terminal this year and the 182nd since the commissioning of this terminal in February 2009.

With a transport capacity of 115.000 tdw*, the ship is owned by the Kazmortransflot Kazakhstan maritime national transport company and connects the Midia port with the Novorossiysk port of Russia. The company is part of KazMunayGas – the sole shareholder of the Rompetrol Group, and, in 2011, it extended its crude and petroleum products in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, by building two Aframax oil tankers, with a total investment in excess of USD 100 million.

The national oil and gas company of Kazakhstan – KazMunayGas is an important shareholder of Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC)**, the operator of the pipeline transporting crude from the West Kazakhstan oil fields to the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. Moreover, it is the only owner of the Batumi Port oil terminal of Georgia.

With a total transfer capacity (loading and unloading) of 24 million tonnes/year, the Rompetrol-operated off-shore Black Sea oil terminal is a crossroads of the Central Asia natural resources and the energy needs of the European Union countries. Currently, the oil terminal ensures the crude needs of the Petromidia refinery - the largest Romanian refinery, which underwent a successful upgrade and processing capacity increase of 5 million tonnes last year.

In order to increase the transport capacity of Petromidia refinery products, the Midia Marine Terminal upgraded and extended the capacity of pier 9 (terminals 9A, 9B and 9C) in 2008, and dredged the seven piers of the Group from the Midia port in 2011. The works allowed both a three-fold increase of the finished products transport capacity to more than 350,000 tonnes/month, and the mooring of sea vessels with capacities in excess of 10000 tdw* and barges of 2000 tdw.

In 2009/2012, more than 1300 vessels transited the MMT-operated piers from the Midia port (piers 1 – 4 for crude and 9 – 9A, 9B and 9C for petroleum products).

Midia Marine Terminal ensures the presence of KazMunayGas and Rompetrol in the geographic area which unites the Caspian Sea (Kazakhstan, Georgia) and Black Sea regions (Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria) with Western Europe (France and Spain).

At European level, the Rompetrol Group owns more than 1000 filling stations in Romania, Republic of Moldova, Bulgaria, France, Spain, Georgia and Ukraine, operated under the Rompetrol and Dyneff brands. Moreover, the Group owns the refineries of Petromidia Năvodari and Vega Ploieşti (the oldest Romanian refinery, in operation since 1905), Rompetrol Petrochemicals (the only internal manufacturer of polymers), the polyethylene pipe and fittings producer Palplast Sibiu, and the cast-iron and steel industrial fittings manufacturer Rominserv Valves Iaifo Zalău.

The Communication and Public Relations Department of the Rompetrol Group

* deadweight ton – measure of loading capacity

** 24 % of CPC is owned by Russia, 19% by Kazakhstan, and the rest by other operators. With a length of more 1510 km, the pipeline has a transport capacity of 28.2 million tonnes/year. After completion of the extension works, the CPC will have an estimated capacity of 67 million tonnes per year, with 50 million tonnes from this quantity being sourced from Kazakhstan.

.