Romanian government will not ask natural gas producer Romgaz and electricity producer Nuclearelectrica to distribute as dividends 90% of their 2020 profits, as it did with natural gas and electricity transmission system operators Transgaz and Transelectrica, said Romanian Minister of Energy Virgil Popescu.
Popescu said that, after a discussion with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance, it was agreed to grant a derogation to these two companies. Romgaz is currently in talks with US company ExxonMobil over the purchase of its stake in an offshore Black Sea gas project, while Romania’s only nuclear power plant needs to modernize a reactor and build two new ones.
Regarding the law that freezes the listings of state-owned companies until August 2022, Minister Popescu said that the Government will abrogate this law by July after it was blocked in the Parliament in February.
Nuclearelectrica recorded a net profit in the amount of 140 million euros, which is by 27.8 % more than in 2019. The company’s operating profit increased by 21.8 % to 157.2 million euros, while its operating expenses were 3.5 % lower at 242 million euros. It produced a total of 10,558 GWh of electricity in 2020, which is a 2 % increase year-on-year. Revenues from electricity sales increased by 2.8 % compared to the previous year, reaching 513 million euros.
Romgaz recorded a net profit in the amount of 257 million euros in 2020, which is a 15 % year-on-year increase. The company’s revenues decreased by 20 % to 835 million euros in 2020. Revenues from natural gas sales dropped by 25 %, while revenues from underground gas storage operations rose by 13 %, as well as revenues from electricity sales, which increased by 30 % in 2020. In 2020, it produced 4.519 billion cubic meters of natural gas, which is 14 % less than in 2019. On the other hand, electricity production almost doubled in 2020, reaching 937 GWh.
