Amending the Offshore Law will take place later this year, but the exploitation of Black Sea gas cannot start earlier than 2024-2025, according to Energy Minister, Virgil Popescu.

“The exploitation of gas in the Black Sea cannot begin earlier than 2024-2025, if the investment decision is made this year. What the Black Sea operators want – and we have put also in the governing program of both The National Liberal Party, as well as the PNL Alliance – USR PLUS – UDMR – is to amend the Offshore Law in such a way as to stimulate these investments, and we will make this change later this year. In the coalition, this will have to be done in Parliament, because we want a broad coalition on this issue, precisely because of what happened in 2018 when I was in Parliament in the Industry and Services committee, remember what discussions there were and how a project given by the Government in the Parliament, on a solid majority of PSD, by a PSD Government, was completely butchered in the Parliament. We want not to repeat the mistake of the PSD,” wrote the minister on Facebook, according to Agerpres.

OMV Petrom General Manager Christina Verchere said last week that a 12-month period is needed to take the investment decision in the Black Sea gas project, after the Offshore Law will be amended, and following that, the first gas is to be extracted in four years.