Petrol dd, Slovenia’s largest energy company, may look to buy further fuel retail assets following OAO Gazprom’s planned entry into the Balkan oil market, according to Chief Executive Officer Marko Kryzanowski.
“Gazprom is a giant that affects every market it enters,” Kryzanowski said in an interview in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana.
“Gazprom is actively seeking to enter the retail market and this should be a boost to every retailer in the region. The cards are expected to be reshuffled again and I am sure this will not be a bad thing for Petrol.” OAO Gazprom Neft, the Russian company’s oil arm, has offered 400 million euros ($557.9 million) for a 51 percent stake in Serbia’s Naftna Industrija Srbije as it seeks a foothold in the Balkans, where the rate of economic growth remains double that in Western Europe.
(KATHIMERINI, 09/12/2008)