We will begin discussions for the purchase of gas from the Neptun Deep perimeter in the Black Sea – Nicolas Richard, CEO Engie Romania
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The head of Engie Romania, the largest gas supplier to household customers in Romania, says he will start discussions for the purchase of gas from the Neptun Deep perimeter.
“We will start these discussions. ENGIE sells over 27 TWh of natural gas to 2.2 million customers, of which 80,000 are B2B, so we need to have a balanced supply policy. That is why we are trying to see how we can do to have a medium or long-term contract. I think this is a big difference compared to other states, the fact that we can buy part of the energy or gas in advance, through medium-term contracts. So, I hope we will soon start discussions with Petrom and Romgaz,” said Nicolas Richard, CEO of Engie Romania, at the Zf Power Summit, when asked if the company will start discussions about contracting gas from the Neptun Deep project in the Black Sea, which will start producing in 2027.
Engie is also the only buyer of the newest gas development in the Black Sea, that of the Americans from Black Sea Oil and Gas (BSOG), which brings one billion cubic meters of gas to the Romanian network. The company signed a contract in this regard before the start of the development.
“ENGIE’s strategy has not changed. We want to continue to be an important player in the gas area, including in the area of energy efficiency, where we aim to be a partner for our customers and help them consume less and smarter. The second thing is to continue investing in the entire electricity chain, we are a green energy producer, we have 211 MW installed, of which 180 in wind, and we want to continue this development. As I said, we want to develop including in the battery area. We want to see what can be done with storage batteries at customers, which is more complicated to manage, but it is an important topic for us”, the Engie boss also said.
“It is a fairly important year for ENGIE, we have been present in Romania for 20 years and, including the acquisition price, we have invested 2 billion euros here. It is an important amount and it is important to continue investing in our operations. What we will do, we will continue to invest in the distribution network. We have a distribution network that has grown a lot, which we have to rehabilitate annually, and in which we invest more than 100 million euros to keep it reliable and up to standards”, Nicolas Richard also said.
The Neptun Deep natural gas extraction project, which will bring 100 billion cubic meters of gas to shore over 20 years starting in 2027, which is being carried out by Petrom and Romgaz, is advancing. The Transocean Barents drilling platform, which will drill the ten wells in the Black Sea, is in Constanta and will soon go offshore, while the extraction platform, which will remain in the Black Sea during the exploitation, is being built at a Saipem shipyard in Asia.
So far, the only contract signed for the sale of gas starting in 2027 that has been reported is the one between Petrom and the German group Uniper, for the delivery of a total quantity of about 1.4 billion cubic meters of gas (15 TWh) over five years.
