Rompetrol Petrochemicals, the first integrated command and control center for petrochemical plants in Romania

Rompetrol Petrochemicals, the petrochemical division of the Rompetrol Group, has successfully completed the automation of plants and the integration of operations into the Command and Control Center of the Petromidia platform (CCR). The refining activities of Rompetrol Rafinare are presently coordinated through this center.

"The integration of the automated control of petrochemical plants into the Command Center supports the company's objective to become one of the main polymer suppliers and producers in the region and also represents a natural continuation of the investments amounting to over USD 107 million made since 2002 and until present in order to increase the specific activities, the production capacities, the quality and the range of products provided", declares Niculi Dumitru, General Manager of Rompetrol Petrochemicals.

The total value of the project to integrate the local systems into the new command center amounts to approximately USD 500,000, being also supported by the investments made by Rompetrol Petrochemicals during 2006-2007 for restarting and modernizing the low density polyethylene (LDPE) - USD 30 million and the high density polyethylene plants - over USD 14.5 million. To these also adds the building of two new automated packaging plants for the LDPE and HDPE plants and of one liquefied gas sea terminal for the supply of ethylene.

"The new center allows full tracking of operations - the control and protection of technological flows, the collection and online transmission of process data and, implicitly, the reduction of production costs, which is a first for Romania, as well as for the South-Eastern part of Europe" adds Dumitru.

The project was coordinated by Rominserv, the general contractor of the Rompetrol Group, and was aimed at creating the data communication infrastructure, the video monitoring system for the plants, the relocation of consoles and operating stations, as well as the operational testing. Thus, the new center integrates the three polymer production plants (PP - polypropylene, LDPE and HDPE), as well as those related to pyrolysis - the steam boilers and the propane-propylene separation station.

Rompetrol Petrochemicals has planned to increase the capacity of the high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant by more than 70%, by the end of the year 2011, the total amount of the investment being estimated to approximately USD 18 million. In the first nine months of the year, the company recorded a turnover of USD 214.2 million and an operating income (EBITDA) of USD 11.5 million, increasing as compared to the indicators obtained during the similar period of 2009 - a turnover of USD 181 million and a negative operating result of USD 12.5 million.

By integrating and centralizing the activities and operations of Rompetrol Rafinare and Rompetrol Petrochemicals into the Command and Control Center of the Petromidia platform, as well as the departments ensuring the related production processes, all the necessary prerequisites for increasing the degree of integration, improvement and efficiency of management on the platform are provided. The command and control center for the refining activities was completed in 2004 and represented a total investment of over USD 33 million.

Rompetrol Petrochemicals is entirely owned by Rompetrol Rafinare.

Corporate Communication and Public Affairs Department

The Rompetrol Group