Romania recently privatized several refineries, including Petrotel (majority owned by Russias LUKoil) and Petromidia (controlled by Dutch Rompetrol Group). LUKoil restarted the 104,000-bbl/d Petrotel refinery in October 2004, after two years of necessary upgrades to meet EU fuel standards. In 2006, Romanian Oil company Rompetrol announced that it will invest more than $140 million in its Petromedia refinery over the next two years in order to increase its capacity 38 percent from its current capacity of 100,000 bbl/d. In addition, it will improve its fuel quality and environmental standards to meet European standards. Petrom, Romanias largest oil group, is currently funding the modernization of the Arpechim and Petrobarzi refineries with planned investment reaching $1.2 billion by 2010. Petrom is installing a new vacuum distillate hydro-treating unit at Arpechim that will reduce the sulfur content in Gasoline, diesel and heavy fuels in line with EU standards.
In December 2004, the Romanian government finalized the $1.5 billion sale of a 51 percent stake in Petrom to Austrias OMV. Petrom accounts for the majority of all Romanian oil production at approximately 78,000 bbl/d of oil in 2005. OMV announced in January 2006 that it would be transferring its downstream business in Romania, Bulgaria, and Serbia and Montenegro to its new Petrom subsidiary.
In September 2004, Rompetrol announced plans to spend $9 million over three years for exploration in the Zegujani (1,100 sq miles) and Satu Mare (1,800 sq miles) blocks in western Romania. After an initial assessment, Rompetrol has identified several prospective deposits with estimated reserves of 10-50 million barrels of oil equivalent. While the blocks appear to contain Natural Gas, Rompetrol has not ruled out the future discovery of commercial-grade Crude Oil reserves. Plans include spending an additional $12 million if crude oil reserves prove to be commercially recoverable.