June 13 (SeeNews) - Romania's top oil and gas group OMV Petrom [BSE:SNP] said on Thursday it has invested around 50 million euro ($56.4 million) in the third and final development stage of its gas treatment system in Hurezani.
Currently, the unit is being tested and is expected to become fully operational in July, OMV Petrom said in a press release.
The investment covered the construction of a gas treatment facility with a maximum capacity of 6 million standard cubic metres of natural gas per day, which ensures separation of natural gas from condensate, based on a low temperature separation process. Also, pipeline infrastructure of over 12 km was built as part of the same investment to ensure connection to both production sites and national transport systems for gas and condensate.
"The Hurezani gas hub serves four of the most important gas producing fields in OMV Petrom’s portfolio, located in Gorj county and includes the largest gas treatment facility in the country. This investment allows Romania to benefit from reliable gas supply now and in the future," OMV Petrom executive board member responsible for Upstream Peter Zeilinger said.
In 2018, production from the fields connected to the Hurezani centralized gas treatment hub amounted to 1.5 billion standard cubic meters, which is equivalent to the energy for heating 1.4 million homes.
This latest investment is part of a 200 million euro investment program started in 2010 aiming to develop Hurezani as gas hub serving gas production in South-East Romania.
Investments for developing the Hurezani centralized gas treatment hubwere made in three stages. This included 135 million euro for the gas compression unit commissioned in 2010, around 13 million euro for the dehydration unit commissioned in 2015 – which removes water from natural gas, and approximately 50 million euro for the latest project – CHD Hurezani (Centralized Hydrocarbon Dewpoint Hurezani).
Shares of blue-chip company OMV Petrom traded 1.52% lower at 0.3880 lei as at 1551 CET on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
OMV Petrom is the largest energy company in Southeast Europe, with an annual group hydrocarbon production of 58.3 million boe in 2018.
Austria's OMV Aktiengesellschaft holds a 51.011% stake in OMV Petrom, while the Romanian energy ministry owns 20.64%. Romania's Fondul Proprietatea holds a further 9.99%, and 18.35% is in free float on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.
(1 euro=4.7227 lei)