Local Petroleum Enterprise Growing Exponentially

Europetrol Durrës Albania (ELDA), a 100% Albanian private company, focuses on importing and trading petroleum products. The company has been growing steadily since it was founded in 2001. It boosted its trade volume from 75 million litres in 2007 to 85 million litres in 2009 while increasing its turnover from US$104 million (€73.2 million) in 2008 to US$110 million (€77.4 million) in 2009. ELDA’s management continues to set ambitious new goals for the company.

Expanding network of petrol stations

ELDA has become a familiar name among drivers in Albania thanks to its network of modern, international standard petrol stations. Frident Kuqi, President, says, “We started from scratch with one station. Today, ELDA has around a 26% share of the Albanian market, where we operate more than 50 petrol stations, almost half of which we own; we opened 10 new stations in Albania last year. We are continuing to expand our network and last year we began trading in Kosovo, where we now have around 12 petrol stations.” Now that the company has developed a strong retail network throughout Albania, it is working on building up its network in Kosovo.

ELDA has invested significantly in its transport fleetand storage facilities. The company now has a storage capacity of around 35,000 million tonnes at Albania’s Porto Romano in Durres and it aims to boost its storage capacity at the port to 70,000 million tonnes. ELDA has also installed new tanks for gasoline, diesel, fuel and bitumen at the port.

Innovative new projects in the works

Always ready to innovate, ELDA is currently involved in preparing a case study for a biodiesel project in partnership with a German enterprise. “This effort demonstrates that ELDA is a dynamic company which is always ready to identify and invest in new growth opportunities,” Frident Kuqi says.

Albania’s economic development is creating outstanding investment potential and ELDA welcomes the chance to form more international partnerships. Frident Kuqi explains, “As we invest in ELDA’s future, we are very open to new partnerships and joint ventures with investors who share our goals and who want to work along with us. ELDA is a reliable, trustworthy partner to do business with. Investors can be confident that ELDA is an Albanian company which always plays by the rules.”