RSS
PM Ponta: Cooperation underway with World Bank for new oil royalties system
The Romanian Government works with the World Bank on a new system of oil royalties, differentiating onshore and offshore reserves, Prime Minister Victor Ponta announced at the Bucharest Forum Energy on Wednesday.
'On January 1, 2015 we will have a new Oil Law, with new royalties. The idea is to get little out of very much, not very much out of little. We consider stability over 15-20 years,' said Ponta.
He asserted that royalties should be differentiated between onshore and offshore reserves, as the investment levels are much different.
'Definitely it's not possible to have the same royalties for onshore and offshore reserves, as there are huge differences in investments. I discussed with Exxon and Petrom representatives; they say that the investments [in the Neptun perimeter of the Black Sea] will be way in excess of one billion euros. Any company has to recover its costs,' the Prime Minister explained.
He stressed that the new royalties will apply only to future concessions.
'New laws cannot be applied to old agreements,' the head of the Executive pointed out.
According to the law on the privatization of Petrom, royalties could not be changed for ten years; this term ends in 2014.
OMV Petrom and US-based Exxon Mobil are jointly exploring the high-depth block of Neptun in the Black Sea, for which the first estimates show gas reserves that would allow Romania covering all the domestic consumption and exporting the surplus starting from 2019-2020, when exploitation begins.