Popescu (Romgaz): When we sell gas from the Black Sea, we will do it through a transparent and non-discriminatory procedure

Romgaz will sell gas from the Black Sea through a transparent and non-discriminatory procedure, respecting all the provisions of the offshore law, and this procedure will be developed within the Romgaz Black Sea Limited branch, the company’s general manager, Răzvan Popescu, said on Wednesday.

‘I said that when we sell gas from the Black Sea, we will do so through a transparent and non-discriminatory and obviously legal procedure, respecting all the provisions of the offshore law. This procedure will be developed within the Romgaz Black Sea Limited branch and when we take these steps, we will announce it to the market,’ said Răzvan Popescu.

He stressed that the market’s appetite for these gases has already been seen and that he does not believe there will be any problems with the sale, but it is too early to discuss this.

‘Before a gas producing company starts these sales, you realize that it has interactions with the big players in the area, with the traders, with the big consumers, who all these meetings took place. We have seen what the market appetite is, what the quantities are, we know for the most part what the terms would be for which they would want this gas and I don’t think there will be any problems for the sale. Anyway, it is quite early, we are at the beginning of 2025, the drilling is about to start. We have time until 2027 to conclude these contracts,’ said the Romgaz director at the ZF Power Summit 2025.

Asked what the next steps are regarding the Neptun Deep project, Răzvan Popescu replied that drilling is coming, the Transocean platform arrived in the Black Sea in December, the works are almost completed and it will leave in order to start drilling the ten wells.

‘At the same time, in parallel, Saipem, which is the EPC contractor in the project, is building the productive infrastructure so that in 2026 we can reach that peak of operations in the Black Sea, together with drilling and installation of the production infrastructure. For Romgaz, this involves high costs, so to speak, the cash burn, in fact, real, is now starting. We had the first bond issue last year, which was a real success and showed a real interest of the international markets, first of all, for this project. But, at the same time, we still have at least one more bond issue to carry out. We see that the financial landscape is changing, there are challenges, this year will be a year full of challenges, both on the international markets and on the local markets and we have to choose the moment of the next bond issue very well and very carefully,’ explained Popescu.

On the other hand, the Romgaz director indicated that, after several years of decline, the company’s production increased by over 3.6%, part of which came from investments made in previous years, especially in the Caragele project, which still remains a priority.

‘In January, another deep well was completed at Caragele, which we hope to put into production by the end of March, where we will have to have production samples and connect it to the productive infrastructure. We are drilling two more deep wells, one at 4,910 meters, currently in Caragele, and the drilling of another well is about to begin. In order to maintain this high level of production and this pace, given the fact that the deposits, gas fields of the Romgaz company are mature and have a more pronounced depletion rate, these investments are absolutely necessary. So not only in drilling, but also in the productive surface infrastructure. We are talking here about both compression stations, electric compression stations, and drying stations,’ pointed out Răzvan Popescu.