OMV CEO meets Romania's President Iohannis as offshore law still in limbo

Alfred Stern, the CEO of Austrian group OMV - the majority shareholder of OMV Petrom - is meeting Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on September 16, in the context of the group being expected to make a final investment decision on the natural gas offshore project in the deep Black Sea.

For the decision, however, the group needs all the details, including the amended offshore law promised by the Romanian Government a couple of years earlier.

The overall picture is further blurred by talks about capping the energy (natural gas included) prices in the context of the regional surge of the prices.

The price of gas could be capped because it is a special situation that requires special solutions, said prime minister Florin Citu quoted by Ziarul Financiar daily.

This is not exactly the version of the energy minister Virgil Popescu after the September 15 Government meeting - who mentioned a more market-oriented scheme including end-user subsidies.

PM Citu mentioned this version as well, but apparently, the final version of the plan is not yet drafted. In any case, PM Citu said that some 60% of the households would see their gas bills 25% subsidised.

"We had discussions about capping the gas price. There are several options we think about. It is important not to distort the market ", the prime minister said, adding that the capping of the gas price can negatively affect the investments in this field.

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