With over 465,000 tonnes of raw materials processed in May, the Petromidia refinery at Romania's seaside, part of Romanian company Rompetrol Rafinare, registered the highest level since its commissioning in 1979.

Thus, it succeeded to exceed by 7 percent the previous production record of 14,000 tonnes a day – due to the upgrade and production capacity increase to more than 5 million tonnes a year, reads a statement of the company.

“Thanks to investments of over USD 1.3 billion conducted on the Petromidia platform by KMG International and its sole shareholder KazMunayGas – the oil and gas company of Kazakhstan, the refinery managed to improve its energy efficiency and maintain mechanical (97 percent) and operational (96.8 percent) availability in May, leading to a significant reduction of processing costs by approximately 2 USD/ton (18.3 USD/ton),” said Alexandru Nicolcioiu, KMG International chief production officer.

The company recorded its best Diesel production output in May, of 49.5 percent, with produced and delivered fuels of over 231,000 tons. In the same period, the fuel output (petrol, Diesel, jet fuel) rose to 87.9 percent, a record number compared to the 85.6 percent level reached last year.

With the increased output of the Petromidia Refinery, KMG International reached, through the Midia Marine Terminal company, a record figure of over 270,000 tons of oil products processed through the Midia Port berths in May.

“More than 200 ships transited the berths of the Midia Port in the January - May 2014, the total quantity of crude unloaded at the off-shore Black Sea marine terminal reaching over 17 million tons since its putting into operation at the end of 2008,” said Ioan Taus, the general manager of Midia Marine Terminal.

KMG International owns the Petromidia Navodari and Vega Ploiești refineries and operates more than 1,100 fuel distribution stations in Romania, France, Spain, Republic of Moldova, Georgia and Bulgaria under the Rompetrol and Dyneff brands.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com