KMG International has recently appointed a new management team as part of its strategy to develop, increase efficiency, and consolidate its operations in Romania and the Black Sea region. According to recent decisions of the KMGI Board of Directors, the new team will be coordinated by Erik Sagiyev as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). With over 20 years of experience in the energy sector and expertise in major projects within the upstream segment of the oil industry, he will be responsible for leading and executing the Group’s overall strategy, driving the achievement of the business objectives and ensuring strong operational and financial performance, in line with the vision and strategic direction set by the sole shareholder of the Group, the national oil&gas company from Kazakhstan – KazMunayGas. The new CEO will have an essential role in driving the Group’s continued growth and strengthening its regional and international positioning, objectives supported by the ability to navigate both industry and governmental environments, combined with deep expertise in business development and strategic partnerships. Before joining KMG International, he held leadership positions in several companies within KazMunayGas. Erik Sagiyev will lead the team consisting of Yedil Utekov (Chief Production & Industrial Services Officer), Abi Zivs (Chief Trading & Supply Chain Officer), Vlad Rusnac (Chief Marketing & Retail Officer), Arman Alimzhanov (Chief Corporate Services Officer) and Adrian Tohanean (Chief Financial Officer), highlighting the company’s commitment to excellence and strategic development in the core areas of production, supply chain, and retail. Yedil Utekov has assumed responsibility for overseeing the production and industrial services operations within the KMGI Group. He held the position of Director of the Refining and Petrochemical Division of KazMunayGas from 2023 to 2024. In this role, he coordinated the operational activities of several production facilities, including refineries, power plants, and petrochemical units. Yedil Utekov has over 20 years of experience in the field and has held several important positions within KMG International. From 2020 to 2022, he held the position of Director of the Production and Industrial Services Block. Abi Zivs ensures the efficiency and development of logistics flows at the Group level according to the business strategy. The Trading and Supply Chain Block is responsible for the supply of raw materials to the Petromidia refinery, as well as for the distribution of finished products in Romania and the Black Sea region. In his over 30-year career, Abi Zivs has held managerial positions in strategic companies in Latvia, Turkey, and Kazakhstan. Vlad Rusnac is responsible for consolidating and expanding retail operations in Romania, the Republic of Moldova, Bulgaria, and Georgia, developing business under the commercial brands Rompetrol, HEI, Fill&Go, and Efix, as well as overseeing wholesale activities in these countries. Throughout his career of over 18 years within KMG International, Vlad Rusnac has accumulated extensive experience in commercial operations, finance, business development, retail, network development, supply chain, energy transition, and decarbonization within the various entities and divisions of the Group. Arman Alimzhanov will be responsible for defining the strategy and ensuring operational management for the Corporate Services & Control Unit in line with business goals and expected operational and financial performance. With over 15 years of experience in corporate governance, M&A and capital markets deal structuring, Arman Alimzhanov also has expertise in legal & compliance. Adrian Tohanean will continue his activity, which he started in 2007, in the KMGI Group. In his current role, he will provide expertise and strategic leadership in managing the Group's financial activities, ensuring the oversight of financial operations and their financial integrity. About KMG International KMG International (Rompetrol) is one of the most important players in the Romanian energy industry, a top employer, providing stability, both to those working in its member companies and to the national energy sector. The group is one of the largest contributors to Romania's state budget, and Rompetrol is among the top 10 most valuable brands in the country. In Romania, the Group operates two refineries - Petromidia N?vodari (the largest and most complex domestic refinery in the sector) and Vega Ploiesti (the only bitumen and hexane producer in Romania), and the only petrochemical division. With a total volume of 4.6 million tons of raw materials processed in 2024, the Petromidia refinery in Navodari is a pillar of stability, ensuring petroleum products in the Black Sea region. It processes mainly crude oil of Kazakh origin (KEBCO—Kazakhstan Export Blend Crude Oil and CPC—Caspian Pipeline Consortium), and the supply is ensured via the Tengiz/Atyrau—Novorossiysk pipeline and by sea through Kazmortransflot, the national maritime transportation company of the Republic of Kazakhstan. KMG International also owns the only Romanian offshore marine terminal on the Black Sea, located 8.6 kilometers off the Midia Port, adding value to downstream operations by directly supplying the Petromidia refinery. The Rompetrol distribution network in Romania also consists of 1,342 sales points, including the network of its own stations, partner stations, mobile stations: express, CUVE and RBI. To these, an extensive fuel distribution network in the Black Sea region is added: both through the Group's subsidiaries and under the Rompetrol brand (Romania, the Republic of Moldova, Bulgaria, and Georgia), as well as through various partners in the Central and Eastern European region (Turkey, Serbia or Greece). Through the trading division KMG Trading Switzerland, the Group ensures the necessary raw materials and petroleum products, both for its subsidiaries and for other external customers in the Black Sea and Baltic Sea regions, according to the legal provisions established at the European Union level and national and international legislation in the field. Registered in the Netherlands, KMG International NV (KMGI) is fully owned by KazMunayGas.
Update: Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan won the Romanian presidential election on May 18, according to the official vote count. With 98.5% of the ballots counted, Nicusor Dan had 54.17% of the votes, 900,000 more than his opponent, nationalist George Simion. A record turnout both in the country and abroad helped Dan come back from 1.88 million […]
Romanians showed up in record numbers to vote in the second round of the presidential elections, both in the country and abroad. The exit poll results presented on Sunday evening pointed to a strong lead for Bucharest’s pro-EU mayor Nicusor Dan (54%-46%), but are only relevant for the domestic vote. Both candidates claimed victory in […]
Romanians showed up in large numbers to vote in the second round of the country’s presidential elections, one of the most important democratic tests Romania has seen in the last three decades. At 14:00, exactly halfway through the voting process in the country, over 5.63 million Romanians have cast their votes, compared with 4.52 million […]
Romanians abroad have mobilized massively to vote in the second round of the country’s presidential elections. Update: By Sunday afternoon (15:00 Bucharest time), over 1.2 million Romanians have voted abroad for the country's next president. That's some 220,000 more votes than the overall total in the first round. The countries with the largest turnout are […]
Romanians abroad have mobilized massively to vote in the second round of the country’s presidential elections. The vote in Diaspora started on Friday morning, and by Saturday evening (at 19:00), over 609,000 Romanians had already cast their votes. The turnout is almost 90% higher than the one recorded at the same time in the first […]
It's almost impossible to think about anything not related to elections this weekend but if you should need some distraction, there are options. Happening now is the European Film Festival, screening recent productions from the continent, very varied in theme, tone, and genre. The fest is playing Bucharest, Sfântu Gheorghe and Timișoara until Sunday and […]
