Energy minister: Romgaz to sign contract to take over Neptune Deep field next week

The contract between Romgaz and Exxon for taking over the American participation in the Neptune Deep perimeter in the Black Sea will be signed next week, the Minister of Energy, Virgil Popescu, announced on Facebook on Friday, Agerpres reports.

"We have had discussions with Romgaz and Petrom and, once they enter this project, we will try to speed up and burn some stages, to help as much as possible with the bureaucratic part, with the opinions that have not yet been taken in such a way as to hasten this," Popescu added.

He specified, in order to eliminate any kind of speculation, that the perimeter of Neptun Deep is not part of the continental area won by Romania in the Hague process with Ukraine.

"It has been in Romanian territorial waters since the beginning. Now we see, better than ever, what a security umbrella of the North Atlantic Alliance means," the governmental official said.

According to him, "no one raises the issue of investment security in Romania."

"In the near future, Romania's gas production will double, and this means complete independence of our country, and we will also become a provider of national energy security. And, given that we will have enough gas, we estimate that prices will also settle", he completed.