OMV postpones decision on Black Sea gas investment for next year

Austrian group OMV has decided to postpone making its final decision on investing in the biggest offshore gas project in the Romanian Black Sea for next year. OMV’s Romanian subsidiary OMV Petrom, which is equal partner with U.S. group Exxon in the Neptun Deep perimeter, was supposed to announce its final decision by the end of this year. However, the delays in adopting the offshore law, which sets the rules for exploitation projects in the Black Sea, determined the group to postpone its decision, OMV CEO Reiner Seele said on Wednesday afternoon, according to Reuters. “We can’t make a decision on the Petrom investment this quarter, as we intended,” Seele said, adding that the group must evaluate the conditions under which it will carry out its “billion-euro” investment, local Mediafax reported. The OMV official also said he was worried about the restrictions imposed by the Romanian authorities on selling the gas extracted from the Black Sea. The offshore law, which was adopted on Wednesday, October 24, obliges investors to sell at least half of the offshore gas on the Romanian market. OMV confident about bln-euro offshore investment in Romania editor@romania-insider.com