The offshore project Midia Natural Gas Development (MGD) developed by Black Sea Oil & Gas (BSOG) in the Black Sea is currently 90% completed, and production can technically begin in the second quarter of this year, BSOG CEO Mark Beacom confirmed. But actually starting production will depend on "external elements" such as regulations and taxation, he added.

He thus responded to the minister of energy Virgil Popescu, who recently assured that the US company, controlled by Carlyle International Energy Partners and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), will deliver 1 bln cubic meters of gas for next winter.

It is not a done deal, implied the head of the most advanced of the several new natural gas projects in the Romanian part of the Black Sea.

"BSOG will act depending on the measures taken by the Government regarding regulations on gas, taxation and other measures. Our opinion is that the continuous undermining of domestic producers by the constant introduction of new harmful measures is the reason why Romania has failed to reach the significant production capacity it has and will only prolong this problem," Beacom explained, according to Profit.ro.

"Current legislation discourages the exploitation of resources already discovered in the Black Sea and will further discourage any producer, including BSOG, from seeking even more resources. The partners of the MGD project have continuously received assurances from Government and various politicians that this tax issue applied to the offshore area will be settled, and, on this basis, the MGD project has continued. Instead of solving this problem as promised, other measures to undermine the producers are being implemented," said the BSOG CEO.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Dreamstime.com)