News today

The Energy and Natural Resources Ministry is preparing to launch a campaign to increase efficiency and avoid waste, while also securing the energy supply, reducing risks related to dependency on foreign resources and intensifying the fight against climate change.

The General Directorate of Electrical Power Resources Survey and Development Administration (EİE), a unit of the ministry, has prepared a draft Energy Efficiency Strategy and sent the document out for further opinions and review. The draft points out that the primary goal of the strategy is to make Turkey one of the lowest per-capita energy consuming countries, specifying a 2023 target of producing $1,000 of GDP by using 225 liters of energy, down from 282 liters in 2000.

Manipulators and speculators in Turkish capital markets will face fines in the near future, Capital Markets Board (SPK) President Vedat Akgiray has said.

Speaking at an Economic Journalists Association meeting yesterday, Akgiray noted that there are “well-known” manipulators in Turkey’s capital markets who are constantly in court over their actions. “There are well-known manipulators of Turkey’s capital markets. They go to court and are released soon after. … The thing they fear the most is losing money, so there is no other way [to curb this] than a pecuniary fine,” said Akgiray.

Clients did not stop saving money, which shows they learned to live in conditions of recession, and realized they can only survive if they have investments, said the CEO of OTP Bank Romania, Laszlo Diosi, quoted by Mediafax. According to the same source, interests to bank deposits will reach 6 pc at the end of 2010. For this year, OTP Bank plans to curb the ratio between credits and deposits, increasing the credits by an average 8 pc and the deposits by over 20 pc. Diosi considers that Romanians learned how to pay their installments and regroup their expenses. On the same occasion, he said that the bank plans to further increase its profit this year. Asked whether OTP Bank will resume the expansion of its territorial network, Diosi answered that 2010 is not a good year for investments in new units. “Until the existing facilities get used 100 pc, it is unnecessary to invest in new ones,” the OTP Bank Romania official explained.

Blue Air will step up its flight frequency on the Bucharest-Arad route from five to six each week, following a higher demand for this destination, the low-cost carrier announced recently, according to Mediafax. The new flights, operational as of May 1, will be scheduled on weekdays and Sunday, at prices starting from about EUR 40, airport fees included. The move is part of the company’s decision to become more active at home. In Romania, Blue Air also operates flights between Bucharest and the cities of Timisoara and Cluj-Napoca. The Romanian-based airline reported a 50 pc increase in the number of passengers it carried, to 1.7 million.

British company Abraxus Investments is planning to acquire Romanian company Bridgeconstruct that intends to develop a wind farm in Galati in a transaction of over EUR 1.5 mln to be partly financed by EUR 680 000 worth of stock issue, Mediafax informs. ‘The funds are used for acquiring Bridgeconstruct and covering the company’s capital needs over the next 12 months’, an Abraxus Investments release reads. The shareholders are to make a final decision on all these elements on April 16. Bridgeconstruct intends to develop a wind farm with a capacity of 10 MW at Cudalbi, Galati County, with the option of implementing similar projects in the same field. In July 2009, Abraxus Investments announced it had opened a subsidiary in Romania with the intention of identifying and developing wind energy opportunities. The press release notes that, in May 2009, Aura Holding held by Abraxus Investments Real Estate Development Director Uri Heller signed a sales-purchase pre-agreement for Bridgeconstruct with Cristian Barbu, the latter acting as seller. The pre-agreement stipulates the conditions under which Aura Holding is to acquire all the stock to be issued by Bridgeconstruct and the payment of EUR 1.5 mln (approximately GBP 1.4 mln) on shares and connecting the Galati wind farm to the national grid. The price of the acquisition is to be disbursed in four staged payments in keeping with the progress made in developing the project.

The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure (MTI) will introduce as of August 1 a three-month road charge vignette on a yet to be set quantum, Transport State Secretary Eusebiu Pistru told Mediafax. For now, drivers may buy one-day, seven-day, 30-day or one-year vignettes, for 3 to 1 210 EUR depending on motor vehicle type. The drivers lacking the documents attesting payment shall pay the National Road Companies between 28 and 1,210 euros, depending on the type of vehicle, and fines of RON 250 to 4 500. The indemnification amounts will be counted as outside-budget revenues of the National Company of Motorways and National Roads in Romania (CNADNR) and are equal to a year’s charge.

President Traian Basescu signed a decree that promulgates the Law on the ratification of the Nabucco Project accord between Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey, signed in Ankara on July 13, 2009, Mediafax reports.

“We are the only country that kept its firm stance for Nabucco and we have the ratification accord in Parliament, as we are the last country among those that signed the accord which had not ratified it so far,” Basescu said.

National consumption of natural gas grew by 1.8 per cent to 1.9 billion cubic metres in January compared to December, and by 12.2 per cent compared to the first month last year, according to data provided by the National Authority for Energy Regulation (ANRE) and quoted by Mediafax. Expressed in MWh, the consumption stood at 19.76 million MWh in January 2010.Electric and thermal energy production sector accounted for 28.17 per cent of the total consumption, followed by physical persons (27.73 per cent of total consumption) and other industrial consumers (12.98 per cent). According to ANRE, the internal production natural gas covered 81.76 per cent of the consumption. Romgaz and Petrom, the top two producers, covered 98.45 per cent of internal production. “The difference of 18.24 per cent was made up of imports, both current and stored. The top three importers with an import market share of over 20 per cent each totaled 76.19 per cent of the imports,” an ANRE report points out.

No less than RON 135.28 mln (EUR 33.16 mln), representing January contributions of 2.5 per cent off before-tax earnings by Pillar II participants, made their way into private pension funds, Mediafax reports.

“Therefore, all the employees participating in private pension plans will have their contribution raised by 0.5 per cent, as shown by their individual accounts with the funds,” according to a release by the Private Pension System Oversight Commission (CSSPP).

Prime-Minister Emil Boc and his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov on Friday opened the Turnu Magurele-Nicopole ferry-boat service connecting Romania to Bulgaria.

Romanian and Bulgarian authorities will continue to work on the construction of the Calafat-Vidin bridge and plan to open at least two new bridges – one from Calarasi to Silistra and one from Bechet to Oreahovo, after identifying necessary financing sources.