Romania’s biggest chemical group ponders EUR 0.5-1 bln hydrogen production plant

Romanian chemical group Chimcomplex ponders building a hydrogen production plant on its Oltchim platform where it says it has the necessary expertise, according to group's owner Stefan Vuza.

The plant would cost some EUR 0.5-1 billion and would be financed from the European Union's Green Deal and the Energy Efficiency Fund, he added, quoted by Economica.net.

Oltchim has the necessary experience for such a project. It already hosts a research institute in hydrogen and cryogenics, and the plant can also capture carbon dioxide.

Oltchim aims to attract other players from the Romanian chemical industry into the project, such as fertilizer producer Azomures, medicines producer Terapia and universities.

Vuza announced that his group ended last year with a "very good profit" of EUR 6 mln. He said that the merger of Oltchim core assets, which Chimcomplex took over in 2018, has been successful, although not yet fully completed.

In 2018, Chimcomplex took a loan from the London financial market and bought all the assets of the insolvent state-owned chemical plant Oltchim Ramnicu Valcea for EUR 164 million mln.

There is a synergy between the two industrial platforms, Vuza says, adding that "they work together, and we have started the necessary investment programs from the very first year."

Chimcomplex (CHOB), which is listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, has an ongoing capital increase operation through which it aims to draw some EUR 73 mln.

The company will carry out a private placement of shares addressed to fewer than 150 investors. Its current market capitalization is EUR 96 mln.

(Photo: Adrian Popa | Dreamstime.com)