Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

SOCAR Romania, which represents Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR, has announced that its 2013 budget is planned at the level of 50 million euros.

The company said it plans to expand its operations and open filling stations in key centers of Romania by the end of 2013.

"The investment plan, the number of stations and the rate of growth in 2013 depend on the growth dynamics of the fuel market of Romania and bureaucratic processes," the company reported.

SOCAR Romania recently commissioned its 16th filling station in the Roman city of Neamt region. The next SOCAR gas stations will be opened in Focsani and Adjud cities.

Speaking at the ceremony, CEO of SOCAR Romania Hamza Karimov said the company has already started working in Arad, Sibiu and other key centers of Romania to ensure that its network is available to all Romanian consumers.

"Most likely we will finish the year with tens of millions of euros invested in the SOCAR sales network and gas stations across the north-eastern part of the country, " Karimov said.

SOCAR entered the Romanian market by buying local filling stations from Romtranspetrol and re-branding them in 2011. The company currently has a network of 16 filling stations in Iasi, Botosani, Suceava and Neamt and is one of the most important players on the fuel distribution in the north-east of Romania. As of early July, the company has created in Romania over 235 jobs and made investments of about 30 million euros.

SOCAR is involved in exploring oil and gas fields, producing, processing, and transporting oil, gas, and gas condensate, marketing petroleum and petrochemical products in the domestic and international markets, and supplying natural gas to industry and the public in Azerbaijan. Three production divisions, two oil refineries and one gas refinery, an oil tanker fleet, a deep water platform fabrication yard, two trusts, one institution, and 22 subdivisions are operating as corporate entities under SOCAR.

The company annually invests billions of dollars in transport infrastructure and is involved in key projects designed to increase Europe's energy security.

It owns gas stations in Azerbaijan, Switzerland, Georgia and Ukraine. It has representative offices in Georgia, Turkey, Romania, Austria, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Britain, Iran, Germany and Ukraine and trading companies in Switzerland, Singapore, Vietnam, Nigeria, and other countries.