Motor Oil enters power market through NRG

Listed fuel industry Motor Oil has secured an entry into the electricity market via the acquisition of a 90 percent stake in NRG, it was announced yesterday.

The move signals the beginning of a consolidation process in the local power retail market, similar to the one experienced by the telecommunications market in the first few years after its opening. Sources say that another acquisition is in the making, showing that the market – in which there are currently 18 companies, including PPC, currently operating – is starting to mature.

The entry of Motor Oil is set to galvanize the alternative section (outside PPC), which has three major players in Heron, Protergis and Elpedison, as Motor Oil is a company with a string capital base that is strategically positioned across the energy spectrum.

“Our entry in the electricity market constitutes a natural evolution of our activities. There is no point in sticking only to liquid fuel; our objective is to supply consumers with all three commodities: oil, natural gas and electricity,” Petros Tzanetakis, alternate managing director at Motor Oil, told Kathimerini. As for the planned privatization of Public Gas Corporation (DEPA), Tzanetakis says that his company is monitoring the situation and will act according to the details of the process, which are still to be seen.