Romania  wants to export Black Sea Gas to region, with Moldova a priority

Romania’s Energy Minister, Virgil Popescu says it intends to export gas to the region after  starts extracting gas from the Black Sea area.

Neighboring Moldova will be a priority, he said on Wednesday. Moldova currently gets all of its has from Russia’s Gazprom and is seeking to wean itself off the dependency after Russia invaded neighbor Ukraine and then cut gas to Poland and Bulgaria.

“Romania will produce more gas than it consumes .. and will export natural gas to Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, but first of all to Moldova,” Mr. Popescu said.

The Iasi-Chisinau pipeline was built in October 2021 to link Moldova to the European energy grid.

The first Romanian extractions from the Black Sea are not expected for several years. Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca has forecast the first gas from the Neptune Deep field would arrive by 2026.

“The estimates give us guarantees that there are large enough quantities to supply gas to our neighbors, both in the region and the European Union,” the prime minister said on Tuesday.

On March 24, Romania’s state-owned energy company Romgaz approved the contract to buy over 50 per cent of the Neptune Deep field from US ExxonMobil for $1.06 billion.

The main shareholder in Romgaz is the Romanian state, which has a 70 percent stake. The purchase will allow Romania to become a regional energy security provider, the energy minister said.

He estimated that the total amount of gas in the Neptune Deep field exceeds 100 billion cubic meters.

Romania’s Romgaz signs $1.06 bln takeover contract for Exxon’s stake in Neptun Deep

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