Romania will have natural gas from other sources next winter, including from the Black Sea, and starting this year we will have one billion cubic meters of additional gas, announced the Minister of Energy, Virgil Popescu.

“Romania will have gas from other sources next winter, including the Black Sea. Black Sea gas has already begun to be exploited by Black Sea Oil & Gas. Tests are already underway to introduce the first gas molecule into the national system. Starting this year, we will have an extra billion cubic meters of gas,” the quoted minister wrote on Facebook, according to Agerpres.

According to him, Romgaz will complete the takeover of the Neptun Deep perimeter from Exxon as soon as possible. Through this transaction, Romgaz also takes over the technology and the related contracts for starting the works, so that in 2026 we will 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 Romania-Ukraine trial on Snake Island,” Virgil Popescu said.

At the end of last year, Romgaz announced that its shareholders had approved the takeover of the ExxonMobil group’s stake in the Neptun Deep perimeter, which was estimated to contain gas reserves of about 100 billion cubic meters. OMV Petrom also owns 50% of the Neptune Deep block in the Black Sea.