Under a provision in the petroleum agreement for the concession of the Neptun Deep offshore natural gas perimeter in the Black Sea (amended in February), the concession operators of the perimeter (OMV Petrom and Romgaz) are obliged to officially declare, by the end of this year, that the discovered deposits have commercial value and can be exploited under conditions of economic profitability, Romania's energy minister Virgil Popescu revealed.

Romgaz announced on August 1 the completion of the transaction by which it took over the local subsidiary of ExxonMobil, which holds half of the rights related to the concession.

In February, the Government approved by decision (GD), at the request of the Neptun Deep concessionaires, the conclusion of an additional act to the oil agreement, by which the initial term in the agreement was postponed until which the companies had to declare the deposits on the perimeter as commercial.

The executive did not disclose in the GD what the initial term was and how much it was extended.

andrei@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Gov.ro)