Beginnings
The history of Petromidia began over 40 years ago.
It is said that the location of the Navodari factory was decided only after a helicopter flight over the lands. Then, the officials of the time decided that Petromidia's current position was perfect, because it met all the necessary conditions: it was near the sea, it was near a locality that could be developed and it was near a vast space on which it could stretch.
It is no surprise that Navodari, at first only a small settlement, made up especially of fishermen and animal breeders, had a fulminating growth in time. At the beginning of the 20th century, it had 500 inhabitants, then, in 1975, the population increased to 7,000 inhabitants.
The demographic growth took place in the 1980s, when 26,000 people were already living in Năvodari; today, we are talking about one of the most important cities in Dobrogea, with 40,000 inhabitants.
In the mid-1970s, the area was virtually a marsh. Few know that, out of the total area of 480 hectares Petromidia occupies, 37 hectares have been recovered from the sea. The first brick was laid on July 9, 1976.
They worked hard to ensure the stability of the land under Petromidia, so that the entire construction can now resist a nine-degree earthquake on the Richter scale. The works on the refinery have taken 13 years and around 5,000-6,000 people were involved in erecting this establishment.
The Moment of Truth
1979 is the year we all cherish. That year in June, the first refinery plant was put into use: Atmospheric Distillation. Today, Petromidia counts no fewer than 19 main plants that, together, make up the largest refinery in Romania.
The veterans of the platform always remember, with excitement, the first few days, the first tests and the first notable results. They are also those who witnessed the fulminating evolution of the refinery, from one single plant to one of the most important refineries in the Black Sea region.
The intent of that time was to develop a whole vertical industry: textiles, petrochemicals, rubber, lakes and paints, chemical fertilizers, and all of this development would be based on petroleum.
Interesting details
- In order to secure the labour force at the beginning, employees from similar complexes from all over Romania were transferred to Constanta.
- Circulation into the factory was done by foot, with personal bicycles or with the platform bicycles – about 200 bicycles.
- The first Felix computer was seen in 1985, and the first Internet connection was in the commercial manager’s office, in 1992.
- The platform is surrounded by an underground wall, 80-100 centimetres wide and 4.5 metres high, which has the role of retaining any leaks of petroleum products which might accidentally go into the soil; migration into the sea or into the lake is thus avoided.
- In order to maintain the constant level of the groundwater below the platform, there is a special system of drainage networks and special drainage stations.
- The water needed by the platform is pumped from the Danube-Black Sea Canal, by means of a pumping station located 30 km from the platform.
The Post-Communist Era
Between 1990 and 2000, the markets have radically restructured both internally and externally, and the raw material requirements for the synthetic yarn and fibre industry have fallen sharply, which has led to redirecting the platform's activity on the production of fuels and polymers.
Starting with 2005, the refinery was the first in Romania to have a command and control centre where processes were automated. The building is built as a bunker, being designed to withstand harsh natural disasters, such as earthquakes.
Between 2008 and 2012, the largest capacity upgrade project took place, from 3.5 to 5 million tons. Thus Petromidia became the largest refinery in Romania and one of the most modern in the Southeastern Europe, with a significant impact in the Dobrogea area and at the national level.
Petromidia has a 10.5 Nelson complexity index and processes high sulfur crude oil, producing exclusively Euro 5 products.
The refinery works with Vega, the Group's second refinery, to which it sends semi-finished products resulting in value-added products. Vega is the only local producer of road bitumen, polymer-modified bitumen.
Also, within the Petromidia refinery there can be found the only petrochemical unit in Romania.
In 2008, the refinery launched the only marine terminal located 8.6 miles from the Midia Port, which supplies the refinery with crude oil by means of subterranean and terrestrial pipelines.
Currently, there are 45 people with a seniority between 39 and 40 years on the platform.