The KMG International Group is celebrating 15 years of Rompetrol brand presence in the Republics of Moldova and Bulgaria.

“The expansion of our Rompetrol activities and operations in the Black Sea region was a natural and organic evolution of the Group, an addition to the growth and modernization of the Petromidia refinery – the largest unit in Romania and one of the most modern in the region. Innovation and product quality, ensured by employee professionalism and the dedication of our shareholder – KazMunayGas were the main strengths we based our success on, in the past 10 years,” says Catalin Dumitru, first operational vice-president at KMG International.

After their establishment at the end of 2002, the Group’s subsidiaries in Moldova and Bulgaria, first set up the creation of a distribution network for fuel produced by the Petromidia refinery, both in retail and wholesale, through new Rompetrol stations and fuel depots in Chisinau and Stara Zagora, but also fuel depots at the transit points – the Giurgiulesti and Ruse ports.

After the opening of the first Rompetrol gas stations in the Republics of Moldova and Bulgaria in 2005, the Group began laying the foundations for its fuel distribution network, after focusing on the expansion and consolidation of the wholesale activities, between 2003 and 2004.

Due to the takeover of the Group in 2007 by the national company of oil and gas from Kazakhstan – KazMunayGas, the subsidiaries received all the support they needed in order to achieve a strong development of their regional presence, the number of stations growing from 65 units in 2007 to 134 right now. The investments done by the Group since 2007 in the two neighboring countries of Romania reach approx. $50 million.

During the 15 years of activity, the total volume of fuel delivered to Moldova and Bulgaria went over 4.1 million tons and the most significant increase was registered in the past 10 years – from 210,000 tons in 2007 to 760,000 tons in 2016 and 710,000 tons during the first 10 months of the current year.

Rompetrol’s success in the region was also due to the introduction of the innovative payment method (Bulgaria – Fill&Drive in 2007, Moldova – Rompetrol card in 2008), to the Hei restaurant-store concept (Bulgaria – 2007), the launch of the Efix fuel range (Moldova- 2008, Bulgaria – 2010), but also the alignment of the new gas station concept developed and implemented by the Group starting from 2013 in Romania (Moldova – 2015, Bulgaria – 2016).

With a market share of 38%, the Group’s subsidiary became the largest oil products supplier in Moldova and, at the same time, one of the most important retail companies, with a market share of 22%. Out of the 78 Rompetrol stations in Moldova, over half of them are located around the capital, Chisinau.

With a total number of 850 employees, the two companies became, after 15 years, a pillar of stability and development of their local economies, their contributions to the state budgets in Moldova and Bulgaria nearing $1.63 billion (87% between 2007 and 2017).

“For the next period we have decided to continue expanding the activities and operations of KMG International in the region, not just in Bulgaria and Moldova, but also in Romania and Georgia – where we have been present since 2005. In the next 4 years, we wish to achieve a market share of 25% in Romania and 12% in Bulgaria and by the end of this year we would also want to open 6 new stations and 4 new stores in Moldova,” says Catalin Dumitru.

The subsidiary development in Moldova and Bulgaria, but also in Romania and Georgia was supported by the investment programs ran at the Petromidia refinery, which allowed for an annual growth of the quantity of processed raw materials from 3.1 million tons in 2002 to over 3.8 million tons in 2007 and 5.4 million tons in 2016, but also an increase in fuel quality – from the Euro 2 standard in 2002 to Euro 4 in 2007 and Euro 5 in 2009.

Between 2007 and 2016, the volume of fuel obtained in the refinery increased by 32%, up to 4.2 million tons. For 2017, Rompetrol Rafinare set a goal of approx. 5.6 million tons of processed raw materials in order to obtain around 5.3 million tons of oil products, out of which around 83% are motor fuels (gasoline – 1.4 million tons, diesel – 2.76 million tons, jet fuel – 241.000 tons).