A decision to suspend the environment authority for the Arpechim Refinery, which covers about half of Petrol fuel supplies, is disproportionate and unjustified, Petrom communications director Dan Pazara warns in a press release issued on Tuesday.

The position comes one day after Arpechim’s integrated environment authorization was suspended because the plant failed to accomplish two measures of improving environment protection and safety, which were needed to fall in line with EU demands.

Pazara says in the press release that the Arpechim refinery has a program negotiated with the National Environment Protection Agency-Pitesti that includes specific measures due to be fulfilled by 2012, a deadline for a period of transition negotiated with the European Union.

He warned that the closure of the refinery was a drastic measure having a negative impact on the Romanian economy and especially the Romanian petrochemical industry, which depends on Arpechim deliveries.

According to Pazaru, one of the measures still to be applied - the modernization of gasoline tanks - was considered to be applied at a much higher level than that demanded by the environment authorities and that negotiations were under way for an optimal solution since it was found that the deadline set in this regard, December 31, 2006, was impossible to meet.