Romgaz will submit an offer to take over Exxon’s participation in the Black Sea deep gas project in the next two months, until the expiration of the current term of the interim director general, Energy Minister Virgil Popescu said on Thursday.

The minister was asked what is Romgaz’s ability is to manage the Neptun Deep project, given that it currently has an interim leadership.

“I understand that there is this fear in the market regarding the management of Romgaz. At the moment, both the general manager, who is appointed for a period of two months, which covers exactly the period of submission of the offer for the purchase of the package from Exxon, the Board, the CFO, all the experts from Romgaz have the capacity to develop this project. I don’t know if anyone in Romania has expertise for great seabed depth, but I say to give this chance to those from Romgaz. I believe that Romgaz has the capacity to manage this project,” Popescu said, according to Agerpres.

According to him, in parallel, the selection and finalization procedure of the Company’s Management Board and Board of Directors will be started, in accordance with the emergency ordinance on the corporate management of state-owned enterprises.

“The main concern at the moment is the acquisition of Exxon’s 50% stake in Neptun Deep,” the minister said.

He said that the ministry is working during this period to amend the Offshore Law, which will be presented in a first phase in the governing coalition.

“Then we will present it in Parliament to other political forces that want to join this project. I want all or most political forces to join this project, because the exploitation of the gas will bring a number of benefits and will make Romania a regional player in the natural gas market,” added Popescu, expressing his hope that the Offshore Law will be voted in this parliamentary session.