The Neptun Deep project is on schedule, and the first drilling could begin by the end of the year, Romanian Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja said at a press conference on Monday.
The deep-water offshore gas field development project is the largest natural gas project in the Romanian Black Sea and the first deepwater offshore project in Romania. The estimated investments for the development phase of the project are up to €4 billion, the OMV-Petrom oil and gas company said.
“Both Romgaz and OMV Petrom have made all the necessary efforts to get the necessary approvals to be able to make the contracts,” Burduja said.
“From the data we have, almost all the contracts are signed at the moment and we hope to have the first drillings there by the end of this year if all things go as they should,” he added.
The minister also mentioned other major projects in the nuclear program of the Ministry of Energy, namely the construction of Units 3 and 4 at the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant.
“You will soon see good news about these from the European Commission. Then, we are talking about the submission of a bid by a consortium that was formed for Units 3 and 4 (…) This consortium has submitted a bid, which is being analyzed, and then there is the stage of negotiating the final terms. We want to finalize the procedure as soon as possible,” the energy minister stressed.
Neptun Deep is expected to supply an estimated total volume of around 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
Romania will therefore become the largest gas producer in the European Union.
