Petrom inaugurates Petrom City – the company’s new headquarters

• One of the biggest projects on the Romanian real estate market: investments of over EUR 130 million
• Unique project given the scale of the ecological rehabilitation on the land, high energy efficiency of the buildings and environmental branding
• Petrom City includes one of the most modern data centers in Europe
• Significant economic impact

Petrom, the largest oil and gas producer in Southeastern Europe inaugurates today Petrom City, the headquarters that will host the company’s central operations. Situated in the northern part of Bucharest, it will host around 2,500 employees from 7 headquarters of the company in Bucharest and Ploiesti. The employees’ relocation process started in the 4th quarter of this year and is estimated to be finalized in the 2nd quarter of 2011.
Mariana Gheorghe, Petrom CEO: “This is a special moment for us in Petrom. Today we inaugurate more than a building: an inspirational space, which celebrates innovation, transparency and flexibility. Petrom City is both an architectural landmark for the northern area of Bucharest – to whose development it contributed, and a milestone for our evolution as a company, for our objectives and values.”
Reinhard Pichler added: “As CFO, I must say it was not easy for us to continue a project of such magnitude, during a difficult period for the economic environment. The project was started before the first signs of the economic crisis appeared, so we had to adapt and search for the best solutions to ensure the necessary funds in a profoundly changed economic environment”.

Facts and Figures about Petrom City (PDF, 64.5 KB)

The project started with the largest rehabilitation project in Romania of the land where the Petrom City complex is built. The land, a former oil products storage, was bombed during the Second World War and the damaged reservoirs caused the contamination of the soil. Following the ecological rehabilitation, a 200,000 sqm land was returned to the city.
Petrom City is formed of two office buildings, a data center – one of the most modern in Europe, a 5 MW power plant and a 900 spaces parking area, on a constructed surface of 100,000 sqm.
The high energy efficiency of the buildings, around 90%, compared to an average of 40 – 60% present in most recently constructed buildings, contributes to the uniqueness of the project in Romania.
The data center offers a move-in ready facility providing an environment to support mission critical infrastructure services with advanced cooling, power, redundancy and sustainability features.
The operation of the data center was taken over through a 10 year agreement by IBM, the most innovative IT company worldwide, who will supply the best industry services to Petrom, OMV and other clients in Romania.
The concept of environmental branding was used for the first time in Romania and consisted of creating special elements of furniture and interior design, so that all spaces reflect the company’s values and philosophy.
The project included the construction of the road infrastructure, both inside Petrom City as well as in its perimeter, not only for the employees’ access but also for the area’s development. The roads, in total length of 1.7 km, are equipped with lighting system, green spaces and bicycle tracks. In addition, the entire cable network is underground – in line with the new “Net City” standards.
The economic impact of the project is significant. Around 4,000 people from over 150 companies (over 80% of them Romanian companies) worked on Petrom City, in various stages of the construction works. The total investment amounted to over EUR 130 million and covered the costs with the ecological rehabilitation, infrastructure project, buildings construction and the power plant.

Petrom Group
Petrom Group is the largest oil and gas group in South-eastern Europe, with activities in the business segments of Exploration and Production, Refining and Marketing as well as Gas and Power. The Group consolidated its position on the oil market in South-eastern Europe following a far-reaching modernization and efficiency increase process whereas investments accounted for more than EUR 5 bn during the last five years. In Romania and Kazakhstan, the Group exploits proved oil and gas reserves of approximately 854 mn boe (in Romania 823 boe) and has a maximum annual refining capacity of 8 mn tons.
On the distribution market of oil products, Petrom Group is present through a network of approximately 800 filling stations, operated under two brands, Petrom and OMV. The activity in Romania is performed through OMV Petrom Marketing, 100% owned by Petrom. OMV Petrom Marketing operates 546 filling stations, out of which 389 are Petrom and 157 OMV. The Group also owns an international network of approximately 250 filling stations, located in Republic of Moldova, Bulgaria and Serbia.
For the Group’s sustainable development, its strategy includes business diversification by approaching the power market. In this context, Petrom is building a 860 MW gas fired power plant at Brazi and acquired the project for the construction of a 45 MW wind park.
In 2009 the Group’s turnover was EUR 3,795 mn, EBITDA was EUR 969 mn. OMV, the leading energy group in Central and South-eastern Europe holds a 51.01% share in Petrom. OMV is active in 12 Central European countries in its Refining and Marketing business segment and in 16 countries on four continents in Exploration and Production. Ministry of Economy holds 20.64% of Petrom shares, Property Fund SA holds 20.11%, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development 2.03% and 6.21% is free float on Bucharest Stock Exchange.