Romania has pre-emptive rights on its Black Sea gas but not under term contract

Under existing legislation, Romania has pre-emptive rights only for the natural gas already extracted - and not for the natural gas that will be extracted in the future, according to clarifications provided to Ziarul Financiar by the National Administration of State Reserves and Special Issues (ANRSPS) nearly a month after OMV announced the first deal involving Neptun Deep's output.

Consequently, if all the gas from the Neptun Deep perimeter will be sold under forward contracts, ANRSPS hold no preemptive rights, the daily implies, questioning the logic of Law no. 256/2018 that regulates this matter and sets the role of ANRSPS to protect the "energy security of Romania."

Although the Romanian state, through ANRSPS under the Offshore Law, has a pre-emptive right over quantities, this right refers to exploited, not exploitable quantities, according to the interpretation of the law provided by ANRSPS in response to the Ziarul Financiar inquiry.

Protecting Romania's energy security involves "immediate [...] activities of accumulating existing exploited stocks and not exploitable stocks," argued Corneliu Manu, spokesperson for the National Administration of State Reserves and Special Issues (ANRSPS).

OMV (or OMV Petrom) reportedly sold some 15 TWh of natural gas under a five-year contract to Germany's Uniper – a deal still not reported by OMV Petrom to the Bucharest Exchange, where its shares are traded. The deal prompted questions about whether the Romanian state could, one way or another, prevent the export of all Black Sea natural gas – after the gas produced at another offshore block (Midiaa, operated by BSOG) was pre-contracted for export to Bulgaria.

The first gas production from the Neptun Deep perimeter is estimated to be recorded in 2027.

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