March 6 (SeeNews) - The board of the energy investment fund set up by KazMunayGas International and Romania's government has decided in principle to build a co-generation power plant on the Petromidia platform and develop a chain of filling stations, KMGI said on Wednesday
Around $230 million (203.5 million euro) will be attracted or earmarked for those projects through special purpose vehicles, KMGI (former Rompetrol Group) said in a statement.
The investment fund was created in October by KMGI and SAPE, the company managing state-owned assets in Romania's energy sector.
"It was a remarkable day as within just 4 months after its establishment the Board of Directors of the Fund has approved two major investment projects for the amount of almost $230 million. It is a major step for the local energy sector, which is testament to the commitment, confidence and willingness of its shareholders to invest in and contribute to Romania’s economic growth," Romanian-Kazakh Energy Investment Fund general manager Iskander Abdibaitov said.
With an implementation period of four years, the co-generation plant will provide heating and hot water to the residents of Navodari, as well as electricity and technical steam for the Petromidia platform, which are required to support the petroleum production business.
At the same time, the power plant will play a part in stabilizing the generation and distribution of electricity in the Dobrogea region. The new facility will be built in cooperation with the Midia Power Plant (currently owned by Romania's energy ministry with 56.58% and KMGI with 43.42%) and will run on natural gas.
KMGI and SAPE also plan to develop a network of filling stations in Romania in the following five years. The chain will benefit from the supply of fuels produced by Rompetrol Rafinare at the Petromidia Navodari refinery.
The new filling stations, to be operated under the Rompetrol brand, will create more than 1,000 new jobs, with more than 5000 people being involved in various development stages and more than 1,200 commercial partners.
The Kazakh – Romanian fund is expected to reach $1 billion of investments over a period of seven years. KMGI owns 80% of the fund's shares, with the Romanian government holding the remainder.
In Romania, KMGI operates the Petromidia Navodari refinery – the largest unit of its sort, the Vega Ploiești refinery – the oldest refinery (1905) still in operation and the only producer of bitumen and hexane, as well as a vast network for the distribution of petroleum products.
($ = 0.8849 euro)