Romgaz

Energy companies OMV Petrom and Romgaz on Wednesday backed plans to develop the Domino and Pelican Sud commercial natural gas fields in the Romanian Neptun Deep perimeter in the Black Sea.

The two companies will invest up to 4 billion euros for the development phase of the project, which will generate production of about 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas over ten years.

Romania's Energy Minister, Virgil Popescu, on Wednesday said Romania will produce more natural gas than it needs once it starts extracting gas from the Black Sea area - and will then be in a position to export to countries in the region, with Moldova a priority.

Turkey lit the first gas flare in the Sakarya Gas Field located in the Black Sea during a ceremony on July 28. 

class='cf'>

"Today, for the first time, we will burn off the Black Sea gas that we discovered and started to extract from hundreds of meters underground," said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, addressing a virtual ceremony to mark the occasion.

Romanian gas producer Romgaz has the capacity to support investment in the Neptun Deep deep-water offshore gas field development project in the Black Sea and should be the operator of this project, Chairman of the Romanian National Committee of the World Energy Council Iulian Iancu told a news briefing on Tuesday.

Energy Minister Virgil Popescu met on Wednesday with the representatives of the US company ExxonMobil, and one of the topics of discussion was the collaboration with Romgaz in the field of carbon storage, according to a post on the minister's Facebook page.

Romgaz is ready to take over ExxonMobil's share in the Neptun Deep Black Sea offshore natural gas project, and funding that will be a mix of equity and raised money, Romgaz Director General Aristotle Jude told a news conference on Tuesday. "On March 31, we submitted an offer to take over ExxonMobil's share in the Neptun Deep block.

 Romania's interest is for investment in the Neptune Deep field in the Black Sea to start in 2022, otherwise the natural gas there will lose its value, said on Thursday Director of the National Mineral Resources Agency (ANRM) Sorin Gal.

The gas producer Romgaz obtained last year a net profit of 1.25 billion RON, rising by 15.14% from 2019, but the company's turnover has gone down by 19.79%, to 4.07 billion RON, given that the quantity of natural gas sold was 10.1% smaller.

The first Romanian gas molecule in the Black Sea will be drilled this year by the Black Sea Oil&Gas company from the Aurora perimeter, and from the Neptune Deep area it will probably happen in 2025, Energy Minister Virgil Popescu said on Monday evening on private B1 TV broadcaster.

The daily production of Romgaz will increase by about 30 per cent, as the company started to drill deep in the Caragele structure, through the 77 Rosetti well, and also as a result of accelerated drilling in the medium deep area of the structure, through the introduction of two new wells, informs the company in a press release sent to AGERPRES on Thursday.