OMV Petrom defers investment decision on Black Sea offshore project

OMV Petrom needs fiscal stability, a free gas market and infrastructure to start the Black Sea gas project and the current legal framework does not meet these conditions, Christina Verchere, the group's CEO, said in a press conference on February 6. “We will remain very interested in the development of this project and continue the dialogue on this issue with state authorities,” the OMV Petrom official continued, according to local Economica.net. OMV Petrom will also cut its investments by 17% in 2019 compared to 2018, to RON 3.7 billion (EUR 790 million), due to lack of legislative stability. The investments will focus on the upstream segment, aiming to slow down the natural decline in the production of oil and gas at mature fields in Romania. Even so, the output is expected to decrease by some 5%. In the same press conference, Stefan Waldner, the company's financial director, said that the emergency ordinance 114/2018 would diminish OMV Petrom's profit by about EUR 50 million, according to preliminary calculations. "We can't know the exact impact until we see the secondary legislation, this is a preliminary estimate," said Waldner. OMV Petrom posts higher profits, ups dividends and cuts investments due to fiscal uncertainty editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: OMV Petrom)