Romanian Minister of Energy Virgil Popescu said that he expects that OMV Petrom, one of the stakeholders in the Black Sea Neptun Deep gas project, will make the final investment decision (FID) on the project by the end of this year.
Minister Popescu said that, by amending the Offshore Law, the Government has provided the preconditions for the development of gas projects in the Black Sea, including Neptun Deep. Romania and Europe need more gas and he expects that both Romgaz and OMV Petrom will made the decision to proceed with the investment by the end of 2022.
In August, Minister Popescu said that, under the provisions of the concession agreement for the Neptun Deep perimeter in the Black Sea, the operators, OMV Petrom and Romgaz, are obliged to declare, by the end of this year, the commercial viability of the exploitation of discovered reserves. Namely, to reach the final investment decision by the end of 2022.
However, CEO of OMV Petrom Christina Verchere said that the final investment decision on the Neptun Deep project in the Black Sea could be made in mid-2023. She reminded that if the offshore law would had been adopted in current state in 2018, gas production at the project would have been launched by the end of this year.
In February, Romanian authorities agreed to postpone the deadline until which the concessionaires of Neputun Deep perimeter had to declare whether gas exploitation would be commercially feasible, mainly due to ongoing negotiations over Romgaz’ takeover of ExxonMobil’s interest in the perimeter. However, the authorities did not disclose the extent of the postponement.
