Azeri oil company Nobel Oil, which is mainly active in the Caspian area, will open its first fuel station in Romania next month. This will be located in Iasi, in the east of Romania.

The group plans to build its next service station in Constanta, and reach 80-90 units in Romania in five years, reports Ziarul Financiar.

Romania is the first country where the company has decided to be active in the fuel retail. John Long, Nobel Oil Downstream director general, will be in charge of setting up the fuel stations in Romania. He has worked with Shell, Rompetrol and Lukoil, and helped them open 250 gas stations in Romania.

The country has a total of 2,000 fuel stations, 600 of which are independent. The average investment in a fuel station amounts to EUR 1-1.5 million.

OMV Petrom, Rompetrol, Lukoil and Mol are the four biggest playrs on this market. Azeri group Socar and Russian Gazprom have also entered this market.

editor@romania-insider.com