Romanian businessman Ioan Niculae, the owner of the Interagro group currently under insolvency, says the Russians helped him when local gas producer Romgaz did not want to sell him gas, and local banks refused to finance him, Economica.net reported.

Russian group Gazprom offered to sell directly to Niculae's companies natural gas at a price lower than that charged to other European customers, the Romanian businessman claims.

At full capacity, the Interagro group's fertilizer plants will use 2.7 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas entirely delivered by Gazprom. This is the equivalent of one-quarter of Romania's natural gas production.

Five of the six chemical plants in the Interagro group will reopen this year, and two have already resumed operations.

Niculae complained about the two local gas producers, OMV Petrom and Romgaz. He explained how the two companies managed to bypass the binding obligation of selling 40% of their output on the transparent, centralized markets under the Gas Release Program. Specifically, the two put up for sale small packages of gas that are of no interest to industrial consumers, furthermore placing them in the last part of the month.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Dreamstime.com)