EnerMin: Starting this year, Romania will have one billion cubic meters of extra gas

Romania will have natural gas from other sources next winter, from the Black Sea included, and starting this year we will have one billion cubic meters of extra gas, Energy minister Virgil Popescu announced on Tuesday, Agerpres reports.

"Romania will also have gas from other sources next winter, including from the Black Sea. The exploitation of gas from the Black Sea has already begun, by those from the company Black Sea Oil & Gas. Tests are already being done to introduce the first molecule of gas into the national transport system. Starting this year we will have one billion cubic meters of extra gas," the minister wrote on Facebook.

According to Popescu, Romgaz will complete in the shortest time the takeover of the Neptun Deep perimeter, from Exxon. Through this transaction, Romgaz also takes over the technology and the related contracts for starting the works, so that in 2026 we already have natural gas, to be used as much as possible in Romania.

"In order not to let the propaganda induce a series of fears, I want to draw attention to the fact that the Neptun Deep offshore perimeter is not in the area that was the subject of the process between Romania and Ukraine regarding the Island of Snakes," Virgil Popescu stressed.

At the end of last year, Romgaz announced that its shareholders have approved the takeover of the stake held by the American group ExxonMobil in the Neptun Deep perimeter, which, according to some estimates, would contain gas reserves of about 100 billion cubic meters. OMV Petrom also owns 50 pct of the Neptun Deep block in the Black Sea.