Romgaz to Pay USD 1 B for ExxonMobil’s Stake in Neptun Deep Gas Project

Romanian state-owned gas company Romgaz will pay 1.06 billion USD for 50% of the participation in Neptun Deep project. This was decided during the last company’s board meeting.

Romgaz buys the participation of ExxonMobil, which exits Neptun Deep after investing, along with the other partner, 1.5 billion USD to assess the project and to prepare the grounds for the exploration. The other stakeholder is OMV Petrom, a Romanian company controlled by the Austrian OMV Group.

One of the reasons for the departure of ExxonMobil is the indecision of the Romanian Parliament in changing the offshore law as it was voted while the social-democrats ruled the country.

Basically, Romania could control the majority of the Neptun Deep project. There is an estimation that the perimeter has between 40 and 80 billion cubic meters of gas, the richest discovered perimeter at the Black Sea. This is enough for the consumption of the whole country for 4-8 years, as Romania’s consumers use 10 million cubic meters of gas each year.

The optimistic estimation for the first gas deliveries from Neptun Deep offshore block indicates the year 2025, but Romania could speed up the process by using the Turkish infrastructure at the Black Sea.