Petrom

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.

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.

Govt must repeal ban on share sales

According to finance ministry data, the Romanian state owns 208 companies, of which 67 were loss-making as of September 30, 2020. Their combined net losses amounted to 1.97 billion lei or more than 400 million euros in the first nine months of last year. Some 54 had debts amounting to 3.92 billion lei, or more than 800 million euros.

On October 24, 2019, Prime Minister-designate Ludovic Orban unveiled the composition of the Cabinet that he will submit to the Parliament for a vote. Virgil-Daniel Popescu has been picked for the position of Minister of Economy, Energy, Business Environment and Tourism. He was born on April 25, 1968, in Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Mehedinti County.

The gov't intent to sell up to 8 percent of the Petrom shares to its employees will be a complex process that will generate litigations to stretch on several years, since the legislation is not clear as regards the beneficiaries and what is exactly the percentage in shares, on Friday asserted in a press conference Johan Meyer, CEO Franklin Templeton Investments and Fondul Proprietatea Fund Mana

"Changes to the criminal codes have raised concerns about possible negative impacts; we hope that Romania will address these concerns and that Romania intends to solicit international expertise from GRECO and the Venice Commission," Austria's Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl tells AGERPRES in a recent interview, urging Romania to consolidate considerable progress in combatting corruption

"Enel is confirming that the disposal process for its assets in Romania has been temporarily suspended after reaching the target for debt reduction at the end of 2014," a company representative announced on Thursday.

President Traian Basescu said on Wednesday that OMV Austria will be the partner of Romania as long as the Romanian national interest is served as a priority.

Romania is to open a legal case against Italian energy holding Enel at the Paris-based International Court of Arbitration for breaching privatization terms concerning the sale of the local company, Electrica Muntenia Sud.

Significant amounts of natural gas could be extracted from Bulgaria's Khan Asparuh deep-water block, OMV believes.

Austrian energy company's expectations have so far been fomented by the discovering of vast amounts of gas at Neptun, a deep-water block in neighboring Romania situated next to Khan Asparuh.