The oil royalties paid by OMV Petrom increased by about 4% as a result of a new methodology published in May, linking the reference price to Brent oil, with some quality adjustments, said OMV‘s CFO Alina Popa.

“Regarding the reference price to crude oil, there was a new methodology published in May this year to modify this reference price, which links the price of crude oil to Brent, with some quality adjustments. The application of this methodology results in an increase of the royalties paid by approximately 4%”, explained Popa, according to Agerpres and financialintelligence.ro.

Regarding the reference price for natural gas, the OMV official said that the one from the Central European Hub, from Vienna, has been in force and, although there has been a draft amendment, until now no normative document has been published in this sense.

“The royalties are paid at the highest of the reference prices and the actual price. Regarding the reference price for natural gas, at present, although the reference price on the regulated market is of 68 lei / MWh, the reference price remained that of the Central European Hub. There has been a project in public consultation to amend this provision, because it is obviously incorrect, but so far no legislative change has been published in this regard. It remained the same reference price, CEH, as it was last year,” said Alina Popa.