Oil operator OMV set aside a EUR 120 M provision in the 4th quarter to pay a fine issued by the Competition Council (CC) against Petrom, which the company holds groundless, Mediafax reported, quoting a Austrian group OMV press release.
In January, the Competition Council announced fines adding up to RON 880.5 M, EUR 205 M, or nearly 3 pc of turnover figures for 2010, against the companies OMV Petrom Marketing, OMV Petrom, Rompetrol Downstream, ENI Romania, MOL Romania Petroleum Products and Lukoil Romania.
The Petrom Group was slapped a fine of RON 503.8 M, 120 M euro, or over 57 pc of the overall fines. Petrom was fined RON 366.53 M, and OMV Petrom Marketing, RON 137.28 M, according to last January information conveyed to the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The Petrom fine accounts for 2.62 pc of the RON 13.953 bln 2010 turnover figure after tax, and that against Petrom Marketing, 3pc of its 2010 turnover figure of RON 4.576 bln. The fine is the highest ever issued in Romania and a singular case on the EU fuel market.
Separately, the Petrom thermal power plant of Brazi will be re-started in the second half of the year most likely, given final tests were halted due to “external technical factors,” according to Friday’s OMV release.
