The key requirements for the Black Sea offshore development are not yet in place, OMV Petrom CEO Christina Verchere said on March 29, after the Romanian Government amended the emergency ordinance (OUG) 114/2018, Reuters reported.

Verchere added that amendments in the government decree “answer some of the concerns expressed by the oil & gas industry and represent a step for returning to a liberalized gas market. This process should continue.” Specifically, the Romanian Government abandoned the idea of capping the price of the natural gas sold by local producers to industrial users while maintaining the cap on the price of gas sold to residential users.

“We remain keen to have a dialogue with the authorities to understand the way forward,” Verchere said.

OMV Petrom was expected to decide on investing in the production stage of the Neptun Deep field it operates with U.S. group ExxonMobil last year. However, the offshore law and OUG 114/2018 tightened the regulations thus discouraging offshore investments.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: OMV Petrom Romania)