Sources: Austria's OMV has agreed to supply Romanian Gas to Germany
Three people with knowledge of the deal said that Austria's OMV will supply Germany's Uniper gas from its Black Sea Project from 2027. This comes as Europe looks for new ways to increase energy security following the breakup with Russia.
The deal, which was not disclosed before, is for a five-year supply of 15 terawatts of natural gas to be delivered by the Neptun Deep Project. This comes after Russia stopped gas deliveries via Ukraine last month and a general slowdown in energy purchases made by the European Union from Moscow because of its invasion of Ukraine.
The contract volume would represent about 1.5% in Germany's imports of gas in 2024. This is the first agreement to support the long-awaited project for deepwater exploration, which has been in the works since Romania's Black Sea section was discovered more than 10 years ago.
Neptun Deep is one of Europe's largest natural gas reserves. It holds approximately 100 billion cubic metres (bcm), or 100 billion cubic feet of recoverable gas.
Romania will be the EU's biggest gas producer once the project is operational. It will also become a net exporter of gas for the first.
OMV Petrom - which is owned by OMV and Romania holds a stake of 20.7% - announced in 2012 that it had found 42-84 Bcm (billion cubic meters) of gas under the Black Sea.
Uniper declined comment. OMV Petrom and OMV did not reply to our request for a comment.
OMV Petrom, the state-owned producer Romgaz and OMV Petrom, who own the Neptun project 50:50, approved the project for 2023.
The plateau's production will double Romania's output in 10 years to 8 bcm.
According to a Romanian Law, the producers intend to sell gas separately. However, the government has a first-right preemptive to the gas produced by the project.
Gas producers say there is a huge potential for new discoveries in Romania’s Black Sea. The country has estimated reserves of 200 bcm that promise to diversify the supply in the area.
(source: Reuters)
