October 9, 2014
News and current affairs from Romania
Ştefan Stoica, 09.10.2014, 00:00
Russian corporation Lukoil said publicly that it would shut down indefinitely the Petrotel refinery in Ploiesti, in south east Romania, if Romanian prosecutors do not unfreeze its assets. The management pointed out that the taxes it is set to pay this year towards the Romanian state, worth 700 million dollars, could be considered collateral. We recall that the corporation’s management has cut off all activities at Petrotel refineries after the raid by the authorities last week. They have already started an investigation on suspicion of tax evasion and money laundering estimated at 230 million Euro worth of damages. Lukoil has been in Romania for 15 years, with a network of around 300 gas stations, covering around 20% of the fuel market in Romania.
Russian natural gas deliveries to Romania have dropped today 15% below normal, said Romanian delegate minister for energy, Razvan Nicolescu. He recalled that Gazprom announced recently it planned to cut deliveries of gas to Romania. Last month, such plans resulted in a one day slash in deliveries. The Romanian authorities announced that the population wold not be impacted by cuts until spring next year, even if Russian gas deliveries ceased altogether. Minister Razvan Nicolescu said that gas stockpiles at present are enough to cover demand for the entire winter.
Romanian Minister of Education Remus Pricopie attends today in Brussels the international conference on a new action plan for Europe, organized under the patronage of the Italian presidency of the EU Council. According to a press release from the Ministry of Education in Bucharest, the meeting is attended by over 80 decision makers in government, alongside civil society and business representatives. On the agenda is raising Europe’s competitiveness, as well as job creation within the Union.
