Chinese companies reaffirm interest in Oltchim

The discussions Romania’s Minister of Economy, Andrei Gerea had with the presidents and specialists from BAOTA Petrochemical and JULUN Petroleum in late October concerning Oltchim seem to materialize. The two companies, part of the Chinese delegation arrived in Bucharest at the China and Central-East Europe Economic Forum met yesterday with Oltchim’s official receivers and arranged their possible participation in the privatization of Oltchim chemical plant. They signed a letter of intent in this respect, the meeting in question being also attended by Gerea, according to a press release.

‘Through this document, Oltchim’s representatives commit to assure the Chinese companies have the best transparency conditions, non-discriminatory and competitive treatment in the selling procedure of the chemical plant.’ is stated by the ministry’s informing. The signing of that letter doesn’t imply, though, the certain involvement of the Chinese consortium in the privatization procedures, as a decision in this regard will be taken after an in-depth analysis.

Furthermore, the Chinese companies also showed interest in taking over the Arpechim refinery from OMV Petrom. Thereby, the Ministry of Economy reassured the support in facilitating the negotiations on the integrated functioning of Oltchim plant with the Pitesti refinery. 

The Ministry of Economy and the official receivers started the procedure afferent to the privatization of Oltchim that is planned for the coming year, procedure which includes the signing of that letter and future meetings with other investors interested in the plant located in Ramnicu Valcea.