“Robbered” state company, offered as a negative example by Oana Gheorghiu. “And they come today and try to scare us with the slogan “we are not selling our country”.
Deputy Prime Minister Oana Gheorghiu, who had recently spoken about the possibility of some state companies being listed on the stock exchange, offered as a negative example the situation of Petrotrans SA, which he claims “died three times” and was “robbed” including with the help of the state.
Oana Gheorghiu said that Petrotrans SA “was never listed on the stock exchange” and “always remained completely in the hands of the state”, being “safe from the market, safe from transparency, safe from any external control”, but even so “it died three times: in 2005 when the state withdrew its operation without compensation; in 2007 when it went bankrupt; and in 2019 when the liquidation was blocked from the inside”.
“In fact, it no longer exists since 2005. In documents, it still exists in 2026. At every relevant moment in this story, the lack of decision has cost more than even the worst possible decision would have cost. And they come today and try to scare us with the slogan “we are not selling our country”, said the deputy prime minister, on Sunday, in a post on Facebook.
According to a note presented on Thursday by Oana Gheorghiu, the Government has drawn up an “exploratory list” of several companies that can qualify for listing on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), with minority stakes.
His statements on Sunday come in the context in which several PSD leaders have reacted harshly to the possible listing on the stock exchange of state-owned companies.
Oana Gheorghiu, about Petrotrans and the pipeline that “thieves dismantled piece by piece”
According to the deputy prime minister, the state continues to pay 27,960 euros per year to the owners of the land related to the Petrotrans pipeline, which “hasn't transported anything for almost 20 years” and which “thieves dismantled piece by piece”.
“Why? Because no one signed a paper to permanently delete it from the inventory of the public domain. No, it's not fiction. It's Romania today. We're talking about a network that at one point included 1,800 kilometers of main pipelines for transporting petroleum products (gasoline, diesel, crude oil). Infrastructure built over decades, with real strategic value,” explained Oana Gheorghiu.
She said that in 1996 the Government abolished the entity that operated the pipelines and absorbed it into Petrom, but did not remove it from the list of mass privatizations, and people started buying and selling “titles to an entity with no stamp, no manager, no legal existence”.
“The state helps rob a state company”
Oana Gheorghiu claims that a gendarme patrol discovered “the first pipe theft network” since 2000, but preferred “silence in exchange for a bribe”. In 2001, she added, “a crew of the Bucharest Police Department 5 enters the scheme. From a theft with a can it becomes an organized industry”.
“The year 2004: Thieves set up a 250-meter installation under the Danube-Black Sea canal to feed barges. In that year alone: over 100,000 tons stolen. Estimated damage: over 80 million euros. The state, through its law enforcement, helps rob a state company,” the deputy prime minister continued.
In 2007, according to the deputy prime minister, Petrotrans no longer had any employees, its network was physically destroyed, and its product stock was unsalable.
Oana Gheorghiu said that the Authority for the Administration of State Assets blocked the closing of the bankruptcy procedure in 2019, citing that “it has to recover a percentage of 0.0021% of the claims (in the amount of 6,959 lei)”.
“The year 2026: The company still exists legally. The procedure continues. And the state is still paying 27,960 euros per year for a pipeline that thieves stole and for which no one signed the cancellation paper,” the deputy prime minister also declared.
