Black Sea gas may help Romania recover economically post-pandemic, but changes to the Offshore Law are delayed, eroding the economic foundation of this project, said Christina Verchere, CEO of OMV Petrom, in an interview for Agerpres.

“Black Sea gas is a resource discovered and evaluated, with a high potential to contribute to Romania’s post-pandemic economic recovery. We are talking about new sources of income estimated by Deloitte at 1.2 billion euro per year in the production stages, about new jobs, but also about the chance to use a national resource that will contribute to Romania’s efforts to fulfill the objectives of reducing carbon emissions in industry, energy production, transport and agriculture. It is a resource that could support the development of other related industries, such as petrochemicals or transportation, thus generating economic growth,” said Verchere.

“The oil and gas industry is a high-risk industry that requires significant capital. Just to give you an example, in onshore exploration, only one in three wells is successful. Development in deep waters involves investments of billions. For Neptune Deep, exploration and evaluation alone exceed $1.5 billion… Anything from the underground reaches the national transportation network. And from that moment it reaches with priority the Romanian consumers, who are currently the main beneficiaries of our production, whether we are talking about oil or natural gas,” she added.

“The key to unlocking Black Sea projects is legislation that provides clarity, competitive tax conditions and stability. These are the prerequisites for any large investment.”