Reuters: Romania's Petrom eyes 1 billion euro investment next year, shale gas

Romania's top oil and gas company Petrom plans to earmark about 1 billion euros ($1.35 billion) for investment next year and could move into shale gas exploration if feasible, Chief Executive Mariana Gheorghe said on Monday.

Petrom is regarded as an indicator of the Balkan country's financial health and a robust investment program suggests the European Union's second poorest member is on track to achieve economic growth of more than 2 percent this year and next.

"To continue to stabilize production or to capture the growth, we really need to continue to invest," Gheorghe said at the Reuters Investment Summit.

"For the next year onwards, we have a guidance of between 0.8 and 1.2 billion again. But probably it will be over 1 billion euros again next year," she added. MORE