Romania’s coalition government said on Wednesday it had extended exploration and production permits for energy group OMV Petrom, and agreed with the company to raise its onshore royalty taxes by about 40 per cent.
OMV Petrom, majority-controlled by Austria’s OMV, supplies roughly one third of Romania’s gas and fuels as well as a tenth of its electricity.
In partnership with state-owned gas producer Romgaz, OMV Petrom is developing deepwater project Neptun Deep in the Black Sea, which holds an estimated 100 billion cubic metres of recoverable gas and will double Romania’s gas production from 2027, making it the EU’s biggest producer.
The government extended OMV Petrom’s exploration permits in the Black Sea by another two years. The company will drill an exploration well 1,500 metres deep at a cost of €90 million ($105 million) once the Neptun Deep project is complete.
It has also extended the company’s onshore production permits by 15 years until 2043, and the company will continue onshore exploration to replace depleted fields.
The government and the company have signed a memorandum which envisages a 40 per cent rise in royalty taxes on onshore gas production. The company will cover the environmental costs of shutting down abandoned wells, including retroactive costs, estimated at €600 million.
OMV Petrom said it would announce the net impact of the agreements in the first quarter of 2026, once they are included in legislation and updated contracts.
The opposition conservative Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR), Romania’s second-largest party which leads opinion polls, has criticised the government for extending the company’s exploration and production permits. The party has said Romania should control companies using its natural resources.
Neptun Deep is Romania’s biggest energy project in almost two decades. OMV Petrom is the largest tax payer to the state budget and has invested about €20 billion.
(Reporting by Luiza Ilie. Editing by Mark Potter)
