Romanian state gas company drops plans for major EUR 2.5 bln chemical complex

Romanian state-controlled natural gas company Romgaz abandoned the idea of developing a new chemical complex, an investment project estimated at EUR 2.5 billion, and announced that it will instead pour EUR 300 million in a new methanol plant, Economica.net reported.

The decision came after the company received last month the results of the study commissioned with the view of buying or building a chemical compound from scratch.

The study concluded that the best option is the construction of a new unit, as opposed to the purchase of an existing one, but it also indicated a rather significant magnitude of the potential investments needed for developing the new unit: at least EUR 2.5 billion plus operating expenses of EUR 800 mln by 2032.

Romgaz would recover the initial investment within 28 years, according to the projections. Beside the size of the investment and long investment recovery period, the limited know-how in the petrochemical sector was another factor in the decision to drop this investment option.

A new methanol plant would cost much less, about EUR 300 million. Methanol is a raw material for other chemicals, such as polyols or olefins, and is also used in refineries that produce fuels.

(Photo: Romgaz Facebook Page)