Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu has informed Austrian OMV Group and its local subsidiary OMV Petrom that the Neptun Deep offshore gas project should proceed based on the existing offshore legislation.
Former Minister of Energy Virgil Popescu said that OMV Petrom has constantly attempted to bring changes to the local offshore legislation, specifically regarding the preemptive rights of the Romanian state over the natural gas extracted from the Black Sea.
OMV Petrom sued the Romanian state at the International Court of Arbitration (ICC) in Paris, claiming that certain provisions of the Offshore Law impose some limits on the way the company can use natural gas produced in the Black Sea.