Romanian oil group Petrom announced the acquisition of oil service company Petromservice for 328.5 million euro on Tuesday. This is the second major transaction on the oil market this year after Dinu Patriciu, an important Romanian businessman, sold the majority stake in Romania's second-biggest oil group, Rompetrol, to Kazakh company KMG.

As in the case of Rompetrol, the beneficiary of the Petromservice deal is another media mogul in Romania, Sorin Ovidiu Vantu.

The biggest Petromservice shareholder at the moment of the transaction was Elbahold Ltd., controlled by Sorin Ovidiu Vintu.

According to a company’s press release, the deal will be concluded at the beginning of 2008.

Petrom executive director Mariana Gheorghe said that the acquisition will permit allow Petrom to upgrade its oil services to become more efficient and quality-oriented.

The press release adds that the integration of the oil services will lead to the creation of a new department which will bring investments of more than 90 million euro for new technologies and infrastructure.

Plus some 9.800 Petromservice employees will be transferred to Petrom payroll.

Petromservice officials announced in early September that the business portofolio of the company would be restructured and that the company resources would be redistributed towards construction works, transportation, environment rehabilitation works and real estate.