Kazakh national oil company KazMunaiGaz bought 75% stake in Romanian oil firm Rompetrol for $2.7bn but requires final approval from the European Union.
The deal will double KazMunaiGaz’s refining capacity and give it a total of 630 gasoline stations in seven European countries.
Merger of the two big oil refineries will accelerate growth in the region, and this transaction guarantees a rapid development in Rompetrol oil resources.
The transaction will also benefit the European region, as it will lessen their dependency over Russia. EU alleges Russia to have bullied its neighbors in recent years. Wherein, Russia imposed rigorous norms on the foreign oil drillers to empower the state owned Gazprom. This is presumed as a possible hurdle in the near future.
Romania, which earlier obstructed the foreign holdings in the state oil reserve is now under immense pressure to compete with the Russian refinery. For it KazMunaiGaz is the best option, as the oil driller is aggressively seeking for assets in Western markets.
On the other side, Russia is ready to compete with the newly merged competitors and wishes them to gain a fair market price for their gas.
Russia is the biggest oil supplier in the EU, it supplies quarter of Europe’s oil i.e. more than two-fifths of its gas to EU. However, to compete with such a big supplier, it will not be a easy task for the company, which will meagerly satiate EU’s demands.
Via: Forbes
