Romanian Minister of Energy Virgil 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.
Last week, 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.
On 1 August, state-owned Romgaz has officially completed the takeover of all shares of ExxonMobil’s local subsidiary that held 50 % stake in the Black Sea Neptun Deep gas project in an acquisition worth 1.06 billion dollars.
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.
