The project on the exploitation of Black Sea gas represents a huge opportunity for Romania and now is the best time to invest, but we need legislative changes, a more competitive tax regime, a free market and stability, said Alina Popa, CFO of OMV Petrom.

“It is a huge opportunity for Romania and I say this primarily as a citizen of this country. We are very lucky to have this resource, and time is short. Now is the best time to invest and get the gas out of the Black Sea, both from an economic perspective, because there is only one way out of this crisis, namely investment. And this is a huge investment, probably the largest private investment since the Revolution. It is also a huge opportunity if we look at it from the perspective of the Green Deal and the context of the transition to clean energy. Natural gas is a transitional fuel, a fuel that brings value in the short term, in the medium term, and the benefits of investments in natural gas for the Romanian economy are huge, both in terms of GDP, taxes and jobs,” said Alina Popa, according to Agerpres.

She stressed that all countries are changing the legislation during this period and gave the example of Norway, which is considering legislative changes that require the immediate deduction of investments.

According to her, from the company’s perspective, as an investor, three things are needed to start the investment, namely: a more competitive fiscal framework, an amendment of the offshore law in this regard, in Parliament; free market and stability, because “when you have an investment of billions it is essential to have stability.”

“In all our discussions with the authorities, we did not see anyone who is against this project and hence my great regret that, however, it did not happen and it has been blocked for several years,” said Alina Popa.