The government of Romania, in its May 17 meeting, postponed a decision on renewing for another 15 years the concession agreement with OMV Petrom for nine perimeters where the company still seeks natural gas, Hotnews.ro announced.

The concession agreement was concluded in 1997 for 30 years and initially covered 18 exploration perimeters with an area of over 57,000 square kilometres. But because it did not find resources, OMV Petrom kept only 29% of the area initially covered by the agreement.

"The decision was postponed for reasons related to [macroeconomic] context and content [of the agreement]," Dan Carbunaru, spokesman for the government, said.

In 2 of the 9 perimeters, OMV Petrom is associated with Hunt Oil Company of Romania. The two companies have asked the government to extend the concession agreement, citing Art. 27 paragraph (2) of the Petroleum Law no. No 238/2004, which establishes that 'the initial duration of the concession may be up to 30 years, with the possibility of an extension of up to 15 years'.

The two companies claimed they needed more time to explore the hydrocarbon resources available, in parallel with the analysis of the data already collected.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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