Speaker Dragnea: Under offshore drilling law, gov't to get 50pct of output, additional income tax

Under the offshore drilling law, the Romanian government gets major benefits of 50 percent of the offshore gas production to be traded in Romania market, and the additional income tax revenue, in addition to royalties, national leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), major at rule, and speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu Dragnea said Monday at the end of a meeting of the PSD floor group in the Chamber of Deputies.

"Amendments were introduced this summer with the Chamber of Deputies, which, in addition to those of the Senate, provided for some things, namely: an extra income tax, which can go up to 13.2 billion; 50 percent of the offshore gas production to be traded on the Romanian energy exchange. These two things have remained unchanged (...) There is absolutely nothing to change from what we said this summer. The Romanian government will have the same major benefits, namely 50 percent of the offshore gas production to be traded in Romania, and the additional income tax revenue, which comes in addition to the fees. The third issue that was actually removed from the Chamber of Deputies version of the law is no freeze on general taxation, but only the specific tax regime for offshore drilling, that is, the royalty and the additional income tax," he told the media at Parliament Palace.

Regarding the investment deduction mechanism, he pointed out that the question is whether the investments are deducted in a longer or shorter period of time, having no influence on the amounts that the Romanian government will earn.

The Senate Committee on Energy, Energy Infrastructure and Mineral Resources on Monday issued a positive report on amendments to a bill regarding necessary steps for the implementation of oil operations by offshore oil block holders, a bill that President Klaus Iohannis has sent back to Parliament for re-examination.

The main amendments adopted, proposed by PSD, regard the possibility for investors to deduct their money from the investment made, and reference prices.