The contract was concluded for the September 2026 – September 2042 period. Based on the transport tariffs applicable at the current date, the value of the contract is estimated at EUR276 million. The signing of the contract took place after the successful completion of the incremental capacity booking procedure for the Tuzla entry/exit NTS point.
“Today we took an important step together with our partners. We believe the Black Sea holds a significant potential for natural gas and Neptun Deep is a strategic project for OMV Petrom and for Romania. It is at the core of our Strategy 2030 and will play an essential role for Romania’s energy security. We are planning the final investment decision for mid-2023, with the production to begin in 2027,” said Christina Verchere, CEO of OMV Petrom.
OMV Petrom became the operator of the Neptun Deep block in August 2022. At the end of 2022, the company submitted the declaration of commerciality for the field. Currently, the company is progressing with the tendering process, permitting and other technical topics.
The implementation of a transmission infrastructure allowing for the connection of the gas available at the Black Sea shore to the BRUA corridor is a project of vital importance for Romania in terms of energy security and the conclusion of these gas transmission contracts represents the pre-requisite for the development of this infrastructure.
With a currently estimated value of approximately EUR478 million (VAT included), the project consists in the construction of a 308.3 km gas transmission pipeline Tuzla-Podisor to connect the Black Sea available gas to the BRUA corridor, thus enabling the transmission of gas through the existing interconnections. This pipeline will be connected to the existing international gas transmission pipeline T1. The pipeline is telescopic and comprises two sections: section I: Black Sea Shore – Amzacea (32.4 km; technical capacity: 12 bcma) and section II: Amzacea – Podisor (275.9 km; technical capacity: 9 bcma).
The project ”Gas transmission pipeline Black Sea – Podisor” is included in Transgaz’ ten-year development plan and on the EU list of projects of common interest and an application for grants under the Modernization Fund was submitted as far as it is concerned. Transgaz, the technical system operator, prepared for this project in advance and signed the construction contract, with work to start after the final investment decision has been taken by the titleholders of the Black Sea off-shore blocks announced for mid-year.
Transgaz successfully conducted and completed the incremental capacity process for the NTS entry/exit point to be created in the vicinity of Tuzla, where the Black Sea gas will reach the shore, by allocating a capacity of 1.323.920.520 MWh for the period 01.05.2026-01.10.2042 and the two companies, OMV PETROM SA and ROMGAZ SA offered binding incremental capacity demands. The aggregated value of the commitments of the applicants declared successful amounts to lei 2.82 billion.
“I would like to stress that we are, for the fourth time in as many years, facing a historic moment for regional and Romanian energy security. After the successful completion of the BRUA gas pipeline – phase 1, after the successful completion of the Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline, after the completion of the works allowing for the international transmission of gas in reverse-flow at all interconnection points and after the start of the Black Sea gas exploitation in the shallow blocks, we are now at the start-up of the Tuzla-Podișor pipeline, which will allow for the Black Sea gas exploited by OMV Petrom and Romgaz to reach the National Transmission System and, implicitly, every locality in Romania that has access to the natural gas network. Transgaz is prepared to build this pipeline under the same conditions of safety, efficiency and high performance that it has always met with every investment. We are ready to hand over, as of 27 March 2023, the site to the winner of the tender for the execution of the pipeline construction works, which will last until 20-25 April 2023, depending on weather conditions, to carry out our mission in terms of ensuring Romania’s energy independence and we will fulfil our obligations to the Romanian state authorities, as well as our international obligations with professionalism and dedication. Transgaz is planning ambitious investments, precisely in order to be able to achieve the objectives I have listed,” said Ion Sterian, CEO of Transgaz.
OMV Petrom and Romgaz, partners in the Neptune Deep project, expressed their interest in the booking of the Black Sea gas transmission capacity within the binding phase of the NTS entry/exit point incremental capacity process conducted by Transgaz and established a bank guarantee of EUR 88 million (EUR 44 mil. each) to be able to book capacity on the gas transmission pipeline to be constructed by Transgaz in the vicinity of Tuzla.
“Signing the contract is an important milestone for the development of Neptun Deep Project, the document being, among others, one of the conditions required to implement both offshore investments and investments for the development of the gas transmission infrastructure required to take over the gas quantities to be produced in Neptun Deep block,” said Razvan Popescu, CEO of ROMGAZ.
The Tuzla-Podisor gas pipeline project is a national development project with multiple benefits for Romania, including: enhancing the NTS transmission capacity by the creation of an important part of the future gas transmission system; providing a solution for the NTS transmission of natural gas to be extracted from the Black Sea; increasing the security of natural gas supply to Romania and Europe; diversifying natural gas supply sources.