Romanian-based company Black Sea Oil & Gas, controlled by private equity firm Carlyle, received a construction permit from the country’s Energy Ministry for its offshore gas project, on Friday, February 1.

But its chief executive officer Mark Beacom told Reuters that the new taxes introduced by the Government at the end of December 2018 could make it hard to go ahead with the development.

“The impact of these legislative changes on (our) investment plans are highly negative,” Beacom, said related to the supplementary 2% tax on turnover the Romanian Government levied upon gas producers, on the top of the obligation to sell 50% of the output on the local market at a regulated price.

“(The price cap) removes investor confidence that being a Romanian producer will not result in being economically disadvantaged versus investing in other countries,” Beacom added.

The company discovered two wells holding an estimated 10 billion cubic meters of gas in 2008 some 120 kilometers offshore in the Black Sea.

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