The EU is begging for gas all over the world.

One member has been sitting on a large gas bubble for years, but is doing little to lift it: Romania.

The second largest gas producer in the EU after the Netherlands has untapped gas deposits in the Black Sea.

These are estimated at up to 200 billion cubic meters.

That would be enough to supply Germany alone for more than two years.

Andreas Mihm

Business correspondent for Austria, Central and Eastern Europe and Turkey based in Vienna.

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But Romania's gas booster still needs a lot of time despite the EU supply crisis.

The first deliveries can be expected in 2027 at the earliest, says the CEO of the Austrian energy group OMV, Alfred Stern.

OMV, through its subsidiary OMV-Petrom, is involved in the development of the Neptun gas field 150 kilometers offshore.

Its volume alone is estimated at up to 90 billion cubic meters.

But the development has been dormant for years.

Gas from the Black Sea coast from 2027?

Because the Romanian legislator tightened the cost screw in 2018.

In addition to the levy, there is a tax of up to half of the proceeds.

In addition, depreciation was made more difficult.

"Since then we have had a so-called offshore law, but an irrelevant one that serves no real practical purpose," says Romanian energy expert Radu Dudau of the FAZ. "Investors and operators have made that abundantly clear, Exxon voted with their feet."

In fact, after years of changing governments and waiting in vain for a change in the law, Exxon pulled the emergency brake last year.

The Americans want to sell half of their stake in Neptun to the Romanian state-owned gas company Romgaz for around one billion dollars.

Obstacles in the sales process are now leading to further delays, because the subsidy law is only to be changed in parliament after the takeover.

The start of production promised by Energy Minister Virgil Popescu in December for 2026 seems to be more of a dream than reality.

Especially since OMV boss Stern is not aiming for the final decision on the 2 billion euro investment "depending on the new offshore law" until next year.

If everything goes as expected, up to 10 billion cubic meters of gas could be produced off the Black Sea coast for ten years from 2027.

Gas field Neptun as a turning point

Minister Popescu announced that smaller offshore projects with production of up to one billion cubic meters are to start this year.

With the projects, Romania could make itself independent of natural gas imports and become an exporter itself.

The country currently needs around 12 billion cubic meters a year, of which around three quarters are extracted on land itself.

The rest comes from Russia.

Conversely, this means that further delays will lead to an increase in import demand to 50 percent in 2030, warns OMV Petrom CEO Christina Verchere.

Your company is the operator in the consortium.

The Neptun gas field could be a turning point for the company and the country, she says: "We see it as crucial for energy security, for economic prosperity, but also and very topical in the course of the energy transition to replace coal with gas power plants .”