OMV, Rompetrol and Petrom are to build 10 new service stations on the Sun Motorway in Romania. Although these additional sites alone will see the total number of motorway sites more than double, the vast motorway construction project that is currently underway could see a further 87 stations added between now and 2016.

The Romanian Ministry of Transport has announced that 10 motorway stations will be built along the Sun Motorway (A2), more than doubling the number of motorway service stations from the current eight. OMV, Rompetrol and Petrom are the companies that have won the concessions, which will run for a maximum of 29 years. Upon signing the contract they were obliged to set up temporary service stations within 60 days, after which they will have four months in which to establish permanent structures.

At a time when the motorway service station sector in Western Europe is saturated, with no more space being allocated for new sites and concessions already taken, Romania stands out as a market where there is much potential for fuel retailers to build further motorway service stations. Given that motorway sites are generally considered to be highly desirable due to their high levels of profitability and brand exposure, Romania will appeal to a wide range of fuel retailers, domestic and foreign alike.

Although the country has the least developed network in Europe, with 279km of motorway, there is a substantial motorway building plan underway. By 2016 a further 1,747km will have been added through the extension of existing motorways and the building of additional ones. If it is assumed that there will be a service station for every 40km of motorway, on both sides of the road, as is generally the average in Western Europe, when these projects have been completed there will be an additional 87 motorway sites in Romania, making a total of 95.

Indeed, even when compared to its neighbors, Romania stands out as a market that fuel retailers wishing to expand their motorway sites should target; Poland currently has 1,927km of motorway under construction, while Hungary has 470km and the Czech Republic has 369km.

The provision of the 10 concessions to build service stations on Romanian motorways looks to be the first of many. As in many other Eastern European markets, the large motorway building projects underway in Romania offer fuel retailers, both Romanian and foreign, a significant opportunity to expand in this sector.

Related Research: The Penetration and Performance of Motorway Sites in European Fuel Retailing