Rompetrol CFO: No more negative news. We'll break even in 2012, as previously announced
Almost four years after the bravest step KazMunaiGaz state-owned company has made on the European market, acquiring Rompetrol group for a hefty sum from businessman Dinu Patriciu, the Kazakhs are certain: 2012 will be the year of zero losses for the group. On what do Rompetrol owners count in their calculations, when figures show that Rompetrol Rafinare losses alone have topped 500m euros in the past five years?
At group level, preliminary 2010 figures show Rompetrol hit turnover worth 4.7bn dollars (3.5bn euros), but reported losses of 172m dollars (129m euros), in line with IAS. Despite the figures, Grigoryev is upbeat and explains why he believes the group will come to be a profitable investment.
"We've cut expenses by 200m dollars, namely 30% of operating charges. In 2011 we'll cut costs by another 15m dollars. (...) We'll break even in 2012, as we've announced before".