ROMANIA – OMV Petrom: Neptun Deep is awaiting the environmental impact assessment and the construction permit

The Neptun Deep project is in the stage of obtaining the environmental impact assessment and we hope that, by the end of October, we will also receive a construction permit, said on Thursday, Alexandru Maximescu, vice-president of OMV Petrom, at the 8 -th edition of the “Black Sea and Balkans Security Forum” event.

“Placing the Black Sea on stage is important, not only for Romania, but also for the Republic of Moldova, Bulgaria and the other countries in the region. Over a year ago, we were here very close to the final decision regarding the Neptun Deep investment. There were many rumors at that time and many people did not believe that OMV Petrom and Romgaz would be able to do such a project. Today, we are very proud to have demonstrated that we are able. Romgaz and OMV Petrom have equal shares in this project – “50%-50%” – and will place Romania in a well-deserved position, namely the largest gas producer in the European Union. (…) In the middle of 2023, we made the final decision regarding the investment and the National Agency for Resurse Minerale confirmed our investment plan in August 2023. World-renowned companies are participating in the project, which gives us confidence that the project will be completed on time and within budget. Now, we are in the stage where we are getting closer to obtaining the environmental impact assessment. The other documents will follow, which will be sent to the Ministry of Energy for the construction authorization, which we hope to obtain by the end of October,” explained Maximescu.

According to the cited source, the project is located approximately 170 miles from the Romanian coast, and the total investment will be approximately 3.8 – 4 billion euros. “Partially, the project will be developed in the deep waters of the Black Sea, over 1,000 meters below sea level. The other part of the project will take place in shallower areas of the Black Sea”, added Alexandru Maximescu.

In a regional context, the vice-president of OMV Petrom brought up the involvement of the company he represents in the delivery of gas to the Republic of Moldova.

“We are very proud that, in recent months, OMV Petrom has won all the tenders to deliver gas to Moldova safely and cheaper than Gazprom. The cooperation between the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Moldova and Romanian companies has been very successful, so much so that in 24 hours the Romanian companies took over the entire supply for the Republic of Moldova. We demonstrated that it is possible to respond and help Moldova in a crisis situation (…) Public-private partnerships are also Finally, endogenous gas and energy production is essential for our energy security and, of course, it is important to look to innovative technologies such as green hydrogen, renewables, carbon dioxide storage capabilities, transport electrification, biofuels. All these are areas that we are looking at carefully at OMV Petrom and, in the next three years, we have the most ambitious investment strategy in the history of the company. For 2024, 2025, 2026, we will invest, every year, approximately eight billion lei in energy security in the region”, pointed out the representative of OMV Petrom.

The 8th edition of the “Black Sea and Balkans Security Forum” event, dedicated to issues of defense, security and international relations regarding the extended region of the Black Sea and the Balkans, takes place in Bucharest, on May 23-24.

According to the organizer, New Strategy Center, the forum includes 41 panels and 161 officials, diplomats, military and renowned analysts from the member states of the European Union and NATO, as well as from partner countries.

The central themes of this edition address security in the Black Sea region, hybrid threats that manifest themselves on multiple levels, aspects related to energy security, food security, combating disinformation, cyber resilience, the security of the Western Balkans and other priority topics on the public agenda.