Austria and Romania are closely linked economically. OMV plays a special role here. The partially Austrian state-owned company became one of Romania’s biggest investors after taking over a controlling stake in oil and gas company Petrom in 2004, and now faces calls for boycotts in the country and other allegations after Austria vetoed Romania’s entry into Schengen. . One of them concerns the huge Neptune gas field in the Black Sea, writes the Austrian edition “Der Standard”.

After Austria blocked Romania’s entry into Schengen, the Romanian press suggested that the Austrians’ hesitancy could be due to the close relationship between OMV and Gazprom or Lukoil. The latter works not only in the oil sector, but also in the gas sector, is registered on the London Stock Exchange and, unlike Gazprom or Rosneft, is not a state-owned company.

It will be recalled that the former general director of Lukoil Ravil Magano died in early September after allegedly falling from a hospital window in Moscow. Maganov is one of many Russian businessmen who died under mysterious circumstances after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Der Standard reports, News.ro reports.

The newspaper reports that OMV is now being blamed for the fact that, in order not to upset Russia, it deliberately reduced its interest in the h2project to develop the Black Sea field. “Russia, as a long-term supplier of gas to Austria, should not be irritated, so OMV would abandon gas from the Neptun Deep development and no longer implement the project with the necessary haste. The Austrian side clearly denies this,” Der Standard notes.

Cut the enthusiasm

The gas field itself was discovered more than ten years ago. In February 2012, OMV’s then-CEO Gerhard Reuss announced “the largest gas discovery in OMV’s history”, coincidentally on the day of the presentation of the annual balance sheet, during a press conference. Together with Exxon Mobil as a partner, OMV Petrom, the Romanian branch of the Austrian oil, gas and chemical group, discovered a large gas bubble 170 kilometers off the coast of Constanta, at a depth of 100 to 1000 meters. According to estimates, about 200 billion cubic meters are stored there, that is, as much as Russia supplied to the EU in a year, before the invasion of Ukraine, “Der Standard” reminds.

“Something like this usually only happens once in a manager’s life,” Royce testified at the time, rejoicing at the discovery in the so-called Neptune Perimeter.

Preparatory work began many years ago. Then suddenly nothing else worked. The price of gas fell, Romania wanted high taxes and had a lot of other things, a bad mix for companies that started to develop a gas field. US multinational Exxon Mobil, which was the operator in a 50/50 joint venture with OMV Petrom, eventually pulled out. Romgaz bought its half of the shares in April this year for more than a billion dollars, and OMV Petrom took over the management of the Neptun project.

Bucharest is in a hurry, OMV says it will make an announcement in the summer of 2023

With the beginning of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the acute energy crisis, everything changed in favor of the Black Sea project, writes the Austrian publication. “The prices are much more attractive, the demand is also there,” Alfred Stern, who took over OMV at the beginning of last September, told Der Standard recently. “Project Neptune was very important in our strategy, and now it has become even more important,” he said.

And the government in Bucharest is suddenly in a hurry, notes “Der Standard”. He wants Romgaz and OMV Petrom to quickly announce a decision on the gas field. “I want it because this is a special market situation,” Romanian Energy Minister Virgil Popescu expressed his impatience a few weeks ago. “Natural gas is needed in the market, and Romania can play its role,” the official said.

The head of OMV, Alfred Stern, was in Bucharest before the escalation of emotions due to Austria’s veto on the Schengen issue. On this occasion, he also met with President Klaus Iohannis. “We do not want to rush into a final investment decision on Neptun Deep until mid-2023,” Stern said in a statement, Der Standard reported.

OMV wants to improve offshore law

In fact, the publication notes, huge money is at stake. To get gas, you need to invest four billion euros, two billion from OMV alone. The old offshore law, which provided for the EU’s highest tax rate of 23%, has since been changed by the Romanian parliament to become more investor-friendly. However, OMV says it would still like to see improvements in some areas.

Gas can reach the pipelines in 2027, if the necessary conditions are met and the green light for investments is given in 2023, – writes “Der Standard”.

In addition, the years following Petrom’s takeover by OMV were not without friction. In short, the Romanian oil and gas company had more paid workers than jobs, was inefficient and was losing money. The headquarters in Vienna carried out a tough restructuring program, modernized the oil refinery in Ploiesti and invested a lot of money in the local gas station network. Instead, thousands of employees were forced to leave, which is still infuriating in certain circles and has only one person to blame: OMV, concludes journalist Günter Strobl, who writes an article in “Der Standard”, according to News.ro.