A Bucharest court on Tuesday rejected a request for insolvency
filed by local company Rompetrol SA, part of the Netherlands-based oil and
gasgroupKMG International.
The company filed for insolvency on May 28,
data published on the court's website indicated.
Rompetrol SA can appeal
the decision within 7 days.
KMG International,formerly The Rompetrol
Group, is fully owned by Kazakh state-owned energy company KazMunaiGaz
Group.
At the end of 2014, a Romanian court ordered Rompetrol SA and
several individualsto pay a combined $58.8 million (53 million euro) in damages
in a case investigating actions carried out in 1999-2001, long before KMG Group
took over the company, the group said in a statement last week.
Rompetrol
SA has filed for insolvency in order to continue its commercial operations in
Romania and abroad, the statement added.
Rompetrol SA has invested more
than $50 million of own funds to develop its exploration operations in Romania
and to acquire drilling equipment needed to expand its operations abroad. A
reorganisation programme would allow the companyto continue its operations in
Marocco, where it won a contract in 2014, as well asin Romania, where it is
preparing to move on from the exploration phase tohydrocarbon exploitation and
production, it also said.
Romania-based oil refiner Rompetrol Rafinare is
KMG International's main asset. Itaccounts for over 40% of Romania'srefining
capacity and is the only producer of polymers in the country.