Even under such circumstances, demand for petroleum products could go down if the state of the economy worsens, although there are no real signs at the moment of the potential worsening of market conditions.
"A great deal is up to the manner in which the local banking sector will react to this crisis. If you cannot get funding, you cannot develop, and therefore you cannot do business, which unavoidably shows in the number of employees and in their purchasing power," explains Andre Naniche, vice-president of Rompetrol group.
Naniche says that in Rompetrol's case, there are no problems with funding requirements yet, but adds that although there are plenty of opportunities for acquisitions on foreign markets, the group's policy will favour investments aimed at organic growth.
Rompetrol says that this crisis could spell trouble for companies that are involved in exploration and drilling, as refiners are actually doing better because of the lower price of the oil barrel on the international markets.
"If you borrowed money when what you were drilling was worth 150 dollars, a value the barrel should never have reached, then you will be in trouble when the barrel reaches 80 dollars. Nobody saw this coming and nobody has a solution tailored to this crisis, which has yet to reach its peak. We will surely see a huge impact on legislation," Naniche adds.
According to the Rompetrol representative, a fair barrel price would be somewhere between 60 to 90 dollars.
As for operations abroad, Rompetrol made the decision to close its business in Albania where it owned nine filling stations because it could not secure storage facilities as well. The group will focus on development on the markets of Hungary, Bulgaria and Georgia, even though plans have slowed down because of the international market context.
Ukraine is where the worst conditions are, due to the current political climate.
"As for the market in Bulgaria, we own 15 stations now and a further 40 that are franchised. We will have 100 franchised stations and 40 stations of our own in two years.
"The investment in a station amounts to about 1-1.5 million euros," states Eric Kish, Rompetrol's retail vice-president. The company seeks to expand to Spain, by acquiring a local retailer.
The group owns 29 stations in Georgia and wants to reach 40 in two years.
"We are not feeling any signs of a crisis. Sales went up 16% from August 2007 through August 2008 and have risen by 15-20% a year over the last five years. If this low level of the barrel maintains, we could see a decline in pump prices and, depending on the state of the economy, there might also be a decline in consumer spending," Kish adds.
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