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Minister Petcu: The Rompetrol memorandum will not be extended, debt payment is demanded
The Ministry of Energy will not extend the memorandum with KazMunaiGaz, the owner of Rompetrol, approved by Government decision in 2014, and the company will have to pay its debt to the state in order to prove its good faith, Toma Petcu said on Thursday, during the hearings in the parliamentary commission of inquiry on the activity of ANRE, energynomics.ro informs. “When I took over the mandate (January 2017 – e.n.), the MoU was to expire in the third month. I extended it for six months, until the ninth month, and I thought six months would be enough to complete the negotiations. I think that in February I wrote both DNA and DIICOT, we asked for information on the files in which Rompetrol companies are investigated, in order to clarify very clearly what is the stage, what are the culprits. I got responses from these institutions, and I considered that they are not very clear, so I have submitted a file to the CSAT, “the minister said, quoted by Agerpres.
Petcu added that the CSAT, a month ago, have replied that if the Government and the Ministry of Energy had not considered it necessary to inform and ask for a point of view in 2014, when the Memorandum was approved through GD, CSAT has no powers to pronounce on it today. “Moreover, starting with the ninth month, DIICOT began prosecution in the Rompetrol case. Last year, in 2016, the Ministry of Energy intervened as private party claiming damages, and the Ministry of Finance has also intervened as private party claiming damages of 225 million euros worth,” Petcu also said.
The Minister of Energy has stated that an article in the memorandum provides that if the DIICOT decides to refer the case to court, the memorandum becomes null and void. “At the meeting that took place in the Government between the Prime Minister of Romania, the undersigned, the Minister of Economy and the Minister of Finance, we presented this much more detailed material, and also to the representatives of the Chinese and Kazakh companies, and the conclusion was unequivocal. If this file is sent to the Prosecutor’s Office, the memorandum is void. We consider that it will be very difficult for us in this period to justify an extension of a memorandum for more than the end of this year, for us to establish some things which are to become invalid in the case, somehow, DIICOT decides to send the file in court. I think it is good to return to the situation before 2014, the company to pay its debt as it is established, and so to be prove its good faith,” the minister insisted.
Last week, the Ministry of Energy issued a press release stating that an extension of the Memorandum concluded four years ago by the Romanian state with KazMunaiGaz, the owner of the Rompetrol Group, which was to expire on December 31, 2017, would be discussed after two conditions had been fulfilled, namely debt repayment the company’s historical position towards the Romanian state and the settlement of the case in Court. “On Thursday, November 9, 2017, Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Tudose had a meeting with a delegation from KazMunaiGaz, the owner of the Rompetrol Group, and a delegation from the Chinese company CEFC, which will take over the majority stake of KMG International. During the meeting, also attended by the Ministers of Energy, Economy and Finance, the future of the Memorandum signed between the Romanian state and KMG in 2013 was discussed. Following the discussion, the Romanian Government informed KazMunaiGaz that in order to discuss a further extension of the provisions of the Memorandum concluded 4 years ago, two conditions must be fulfilled: payment of the company’s historical debt to the Romanian state and a settlement of the case in the Court,” on official press release said.
According to this source, Prime Minister Mihai Tudose stressed that the two conditions must be met cumulatively, otherwise the Romanian state will no longer be able to take into account the 2013 Memorandum.
On the other hand, Azamat Zhangulov, senior vice president of KazMunaiGaz, said in a press conference a week ago that he received confirmation from Government representatives that things will be accelerated and “we will see quick solutions” in regards to the Memorandum. “We met representatives of the Government, Prime Minister Tudose and the Ministers of Energy, Economy and Finance. The main subject of the discussion was the entry into force of the Memorandum of Understanding in 2013 and reasserting our commitments that we are ready to implement this Memorandum. We have the confirmation that things will be accelerated and we will see quick solutions,” Zhangulov said.
According to him, the Memorandum stipulates, on the one hand, the sale by the state of a 26% stake in Rompetrol Rafinare, which KMGI has committed to acquire with 200 million dollars. “We maintain this commitment. The privatization commission resumed the procedure for the sale of these shares, two months ago,” the KMGI official said. The memorandum expires on December 31, 2017, after it was prolonged several times, and Zhangulov argues that company officials are willing to extend this term again if necessary to ensure that all steps are met. Zhangulov also said that the deal by which the Chinese company CEFC took over 51% of KMGI shares would be completed this month, with the latest technical details under way.
KazMunaiGaz, the national oil and gas company in Kazakhstan, bought 75% of the Rompetrol Group in 2007 and the remaining 25% in 2009.