Romania's top oil and gas group, OMV Petrom [BSE:SNP], said on Wednesday it has partnered-up with French retailer Auchan's local unit and aims to open 15 convenience stores in Petrom filling stations by the end of the year.
All stores will operate under the MyAuchan brand and the first one will be opened in May OMV Petrom said in a press release.
"This initiative is a step forward in implementing the OMV Petrom Strategy update 2021+, which focuses on enhancing offer and customer experience. The modern customer is always in a rush and we want to adapt to this trend," OMV Petrom CEO Mariana Gheorghe said.
MyAuchan stores in Petrom stations will offer a wide range of products, including Auchan own labels. Depending on the size of the filling station, the shelves will display up to 4,500 products.
"This large-scale cooperation, which will start with a calibration pilot, is part of the Auchan ambition to become a multiformat retail company in Romania," Auchan Retail Romania general manager Ionut Ardeleanu said.
This pilot phase will help the two partners adapt services and offer for a potential further development, OMV Petrom added.
In February, OMV Petrom said it is investing 60 million euro ($62.9 million) in a new unit at Petrobrazi refinery, based on polyfuels technology developed by French company Axens.
The company posted a 1.038 billion lei ($241 million/228 million euro) net profit in 2016, recovering from a 690 million lei loss in the previous year.
OMV Petrom is present on the oil products retail markets in Romania and neighboring countries through 783 filling stations, as of end-2016.
It is the largest integrated oil and gas group in Southeastern Europe, with an annual oil and gas production of approximately 64 million boe in 2016. The group has a refining capacity of 4.5 million tonnes per year and operates an 860 MW high efficiency power plant and a 45 MW wind park.
Blue-chip OMV Petrom was trading 1.94% higher at0.3160 lei by 1425 CET on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
Auchan is present in Romania since 2005. As of February the company operated a chain of 33 stores throughout Romania with a total retail area of 280,000 sq m.
(SeeNews)
