US ambassador to Romania Hans Klemm criticized on Saturday, July 22, the way in which the Parliament adopted the offshore law, which regulated offshore gas operations in the Black Sea.

“This law was first presented for voting on Monday, at 15:00 and adopted at 22:00. It all happened very fast and it breached all principles of transparency and negotiation,” Klemm said, quoted by News.ro.

He added that the US Embassy has always urged the Government to be more predictable and transparent when making changes that impact the economy and tax changes, and to consult with the business environment on these changes.

The offshore law was adopted by the Chamber of Deputies during the Parliament’s extraordinary session ended on Friday, July 20. The final version adopted by the Chamber of Deputies imposes a special tax based on the gas price for producers who extract gas from the Black Sea and obliges them to sell at least half of their production on the local market.

The changes were introduced by Chamber of Deputies speaker Liviu Dragnea, who is also the leader of the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD). The changes were so unexpected that they also took by surprise PSD’s junior coalition partner ALDE’s MPs, who voted for the law and then asked the Government to change it.

US groups ExxonMobil and Carlyle run the biggest offshore gas operations in the Black Sea.

editor@romania-insider.com