OMV Petrom estimates a 45% drop in fuel demand in the second quarter of this year and a 20% year-round decline, and in terms of natural gas the reduction could be of 10-20%, the general manager of OMV Petrom, Christina Verchere, said on Wednesday.

“On the fuel side, in the second quarter, we see a 45% decrease and a 20% decrease for the whole year. First, we have reduced the refinery utilization rate to a little over 80%, maybe it will be 85% for the entire year. All this allows us to process Romanian crude oil from our own production. We have planned to close the refinery Petrobrazi in the second half of the year. So we are confident that we can have a good balance between supply and demand on the fuel side. But, of course, it also depends on the storage capacity of crude oil and petroleum products, but also on our ability to take products to other markets, if necessary. On the gas side, we estimate a 10-20% decrease in demand. Overall, Romania was a net importer of gas. There are, of course, stored reserves, and on the energy side we see a reduction – of 5% to 10%,” said Christina Verchere, according to Agerpres.

In other news, the head of OMV Petrom said that, in terms of operational footprint, it includes two aspects: firstly the ability to operate and meet demand, then the economic component.

“At some point, it doesn’t make sense for the economic side not to work. If, however, against the background of economic regulations, we have to do some revisions, we have to be flexible. These are temporary issues. At the moment we think the second quarter will be the hardest, but we do not believe that the situation will be perpetuated throughout the year. However, we must analyze the situation and adapt accordingly. I do not want to minimize the situation we are facing. We are constantly optimizing. We are doing so also in normal situations and even more so in this period of crisis,” explained Christina Verchere.