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ACROPO supervises the exploitation of the 200 billion cubic metres of gas in the Black Sea
Starting with 2017,the Romanian government set up ACROPO,authority which regulates the exploitation and exploitation of the energy resources in the Black Sea writes Ziarul Financiar,a former manager of Conversmin,company on the loss, the husband of the president of the Board of RATB and a pensioner of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
ACROPO is an entity subordinated to the government set up through law 156/2016 regarding the safety of the offshore operations and deals with the evaluation and reception of the reports regarding major danger, the evaluation of the notifications regarding the design and evaluation of the notifications regarding operations on the well which are presented, as well as the conciliation of other authorities or bodies, including the authority which signed the oil agreements, ANRM for offshore oil operations.
At the same time,ACROPO sets a policy for the evalution of the reports regarding major hazards and the presented notifications,including inspectins, investigations and constraint measures.
Gas in the Black Sea risks to become a controversial topic in the context where information on this issue has mostly confidential character, says ZF. For example, between 15,11.2017- 19.12.2017 there was the first round of bids in the process of reservation of the capacity on the BRUA pipeline ( Bulgaria,Romania,Hungary, Austria), conceived to take gas from the Black Sea to the region.
At the beginning of this year,the Hungarian premier Viktor Orban stated that three Hungarian companies won the bid on the direction Romania-Hungary but he did not name them. At the request of ZF Transgaz, the national company for gas transport said that in fact there are only two. Their name is still secret.
It seems that even the name of the companies participating in the bid is classified information.
‘According to the book of the procedure Open Season,any data, information or notification made and sent by the bidders in the context of the procedure for open season are considered confidential and will be used exclusively in the process of evaluation in the procedure of open season and will not be revealed to any third party without the written consent of the above mentioned’say the representatives of Transgaz. Moreover, Gas Connect Austria, the Austrian gas transporter who was supposed to take the Romanian gas to Baumgarten in Vienne says that it was taken out of the game by Hungary. FGSZ, the Hungarian gas transporter in Hungary, part of MOL group does not comment.Thus,at least BRUA is only BRU after Austria was taken out of the game.
Even so,the licence owners in the Black Sea received the first good news. The domestic production of Romania will have as reference the price of gas traded in Baumgarten. Interesting is that in Baumgarten the Russian gas is traded,which means that practically the local gas will be sold and will get into the calculation of the royalties at the same price as the Russian gas. By this, the income of the producers are somewhat protected,but the possibility of a lower price for the local consumer is annulled.
One of the players who got in the game of gas in the Black Sea is BERD ( the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development). In an answer to ZF BERD explains the reasons for getting into the partnership Black Sea Oil &Gas,one of the owners of licence in the Black Sea. ‘ Black Sea Oil &Gas will play an important role in the development of the gas sector in the Black Sea in the area of low depth. BERD got into the project to be able to contribute to the competitiveness of the domestic and regional market by the introduction of a new source whose price is expected to be harmonised to a regional hub. Moreover, cooperation on the technical part for the project will contribute to the development of a legal framework and regulation for the offshore oil sector in accordance with the European directives for security and the best international practices. This support will contribute to the development of institutional abilities so that the Authority for Regulation of the Offshore oil operations at the Black Sea – ACROPO – be able to achieve its duties’ the BERD representatives say.
At the end of last year,Black Sea Oil &Gas, owned by the Carlyle Group, the biggest company of private equity in the world, announced that BERD became a minority shareholder in the company and will get a seat in the Board following the investment.
The gas is already indexed to a regional hub, the biggest in Europe, Baumgarten (Vienne) even if apparently Austria is no longer part of BRUA.