Published February 23, 2011

Petrom Group results for Q4 and January - December 2010 driven by favorable crude price environment and strong efficiency improvements in R&M

Favorable crude price environment more than offset weak downstream demand: Average Urals price increased by 15% vs. Q4/09; hydrocarbon production relatively stable at 185,000 boe/d; total marketing sales volumes were down 7% in Q4/10 compared to Q4/09, while consolidated gas sales increased by 15% over the same period
2010 results reflect higher crude price and strong efficiency improvements in our R&M operations: Petrom Group clean CCS EBIT was 78% higher compared to 2009; CAPEX increased by 15% over 2009 while EBITD was up 41% over the same period; based on 2010 strong preliminary results, dividend proposal is under consideration
Outlook for 2011: We expect Romanian market to come out of recession, with gradual improvements in the second half of 2011; the focus in E&P is to largely offset natural decline and to unlock potential; in R&M we will pursue operational optimization and the Petrobrazi modernization; our increased focus in G&P is on the start of operations in the power business in H2/11