State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, SOCAR, has so far invested 50 million euros in Romania and will allocate a similar amount in the next 2-3 years to expand the network of fuel filling stations, said Vitaliy Baylarbayov, SOCAR deputy vice president, quoted by Mediafax.
“We certainly have plans for expansion in Romania. We opened 32 filling stations in Romania; we have invested 50 million euros into the Romanian economy and hired 400 people. But we plan to do more than that, and the first step will be to increase the number of fuel stations and sales volume in the local market. More specifically, by the end of this year we will open 3 or 4 new fuel stations. Next year the network will increase by another 10 distribution stations. And we will continue so for three-four years, to inaugurate ten petrol stations in Romania per year”, says Baylarbayov, according to Bursa.
SOCAR representative said that some gas stations will be built from scratch, while others will be bought and rebranded. The company has no plans to become the biggest player on the Romanian market, which it considers “a big, promising market”, but will continue to expand.
SOCAR official believes: “From the level of these 32 stations we think to grow their number to 150-200 petrol stations, perhaps even more, in the whole country, but especially in the north, here in the Capital and in other big cities”.
The fuels sold by the company come from several sources, SOCAR buying oil from refineries in Romania, but also from abroad, said Vitaliy Baylarbayov.
