Romania's Romgaz wants its debt rated, before tapping external debt markets

One of the largest two natural gas producers in Romania, Romgaz, 70% controlled by the state through the Energy Ministry, wants to have its debt rated by one of the major international specialized agencies.

This would be a first step toward getting financing from abroad, including by issuing Eurobonds. The company envisages investment projects that exceed the internal financial resources, therefore it needs to identify possible financing resources abroad, according to an internal document of the company consulted by Profit.ro.

In recent years, the Government has been constantly asking for a dividend payout ratio of 90% from the state-controlled companies like Romgaz, while also instructing these companies to distribute as supplementary dividends most of the reserves built up during the past years.

Romgaz is already working on a new 430 MW power plant in Iernut and previously announced that it wants to build a new combined cycle power plant with 400-500 MW installed capacity in Mintia, for which it intends to complete the feasibility study until the end of August this year. Romgaz is separately considering a new investment in a power plant in Oradea.

The gas producer could also invest in a Greek project for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) floating terminal planned to be developed at the Aegean Sea.

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