The government will not ask Romgaz and Nuclearelectrica to distribute as dividends 90% of their profits made in 2020, as it did with Transgaz and Transelectrica, energy minister Virgil Popescu assured in a Bloomberg interview.

"After a discussion with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance, we agreed to grant a derogation to these two companies (Romgaz and Nuclearelectrica)," Virgil Popescu said, according to Ziarul Financiar.

Romgaz is in talks with Exxon to buy the US company's stake in an offshore Black Sea gas project, while Romania's only nuclear power plant needs to modernize a reactor and build two new ones.

As for the law that freezes the listings of state-owned companies until August 2022, the minister says the government will abrogate this law by July after a February bill was blocked in parliament.

"There exist political will, and we will keep our promises, but the parliamentary procedure must be observed," said Popescu.

andrei@romania-insider.com

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