Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services revised the outlook to stable from negative on Romanian oil refining and marketing firm The Rompetrol Group N.V. (TRG) and affirmed ‘B’ long-term corporate credit rating on TRG, a press release informs. The outlook revision follows TRG’s completion, in mid-August 2012, of its multiyear project to upgrade the Petromidia oil refinery in Romania. The group is ramping up production at the modernized refinery. “The rating on TRG reflects our opinion of the group’s <<vulnerable>> business risk profile and <<highly leveraged>> financial risk profile. (…) Our business risk assessment relies on the operating benefits that we anticipate from the upgraded Petromidia refinery. The major financial risks remain TRG’s weak cash flow generation and its dependence on timely parental liquidity support. That said, we believe that production from the upgraded refinery, lower capital investment, and strong refining margins should improve TRG’s operating cash flow in the next 12 months”, S&P said.
