LukOil aims to open in Bucharest regional operations center for Balkan area

Act Media Energy and Environmental Bulletin
ACT Media
Date: May 31, 2007

Russian oil company LukOil plans to open in Bucharest a regional operations center for the Balkan area. The Bucharest-based center will coordinate the activities of the company from Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia and in the future Greece and Turkey. Decisions of investments, acquisitions, as well as decisions on the development of LukOil's subsidiaries in the Balkans will be transferred to the regional center. Constantin Tampiza, president of LukOil Romania says that a similar system is implemented for the states of Western Europe by American concern ConocoPhilips, with the regional center in London.On the regional market, LukOil has refining units in Ploiesti (north of Bucharest), Bargas (Bulgaria), Odessa (Ukraine) and gasoline chains in Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine and Turkey. LukOil provides 2 percent of the world's petrol production. The biggest stake in LukOil (20 percent) holds Americans of ConocoPhilips. The Russian state holds at present a 7.6 percent stake. In Romania LukOil has a refinery, 300 petrol stations and 8 deposits of fuel. Last year LukOil reported a turnover worth 1.5 billion from refining and fuel distribution. For this year, the company forecasts a turnover worth 1.8 billion euros following a higher volume of sales and decrease of refining costs.