EU: OMV will sell gas from the Neptun Deep block in the Romanian Black Sea to the German company Uniper starting in 2027
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Austrian company OMV has reached a deal to supply German company Uniper with gas from its Black Sea project from 2027, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters, as Europe looks for new ways to boost energy security after cutting ties with Russia.
The five-year deal for 15 TWh of natural gas from the Neptun Deep project, which was not previously disclosed, comes after Russia stopped delivering gas via Ukraine last month and a wider cut in European Union energy purchases from Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine.
The total volume of the contract represents about 1.5% of Germany’s gas imports in 2024 and would be the first deal to support the long-awaited deep-sea project, more than a decade after gas was first discovered in the Romanian section of the Black Sea.
Neptun Deep, which is due to start production in 2027, has an estimated recoverable gas volume of 100 billion cubic metres (bcm), making it one of the largest natural gas fields in the EU, Reuters reported.
What does the Uniper deal mean for Neptun Deep production?
The 15 TWh of gas is equivalent to 1.4 billion cubic metres of gas. Reuters did not say whether this represents annual deliveries over five years or the total quantity to be delivered over the five years. But since Germany imported around 970 TWh of gas in 2023 and consumption increased in 2024, the deal is likely to see annual deliveries of 1.4 billion cubic metres of gas to the German company over five years.
The estimated production at the Neptun Deep plateau is estimated at about 8 billion cubic meters of gas per year, the field with recoverable reserves of 100 billion cubic meters of gas to be exploited for 20 years.
The field’s production will be divided equally between the two concession partners, OMV Petrom (controlled by OMV) and Romgaz (controlled by the Romanian state).
Therefore, according to the Reuters news, 1.4 billion cubic meters of the 4 that will be returned to Petrom after the start of exploitation will reach, in the first five years, Germany, a country that was deeply dependent on Russian gas imports via pipeline, but which has now abandoned this source.
