“Royalties must be renegotiated but we may not change the contract on privatizing Petrom before 2014,” Ponta explained at the opening of the oil company’s thermal power plant at Brazi.
In 2004, Romania has implemented a set of fixed royalty fees for oil and gas companies ranging between 3.5% and 13% of the production value. The fees were stated in the Petrom sale contract and are applicable until 2014.
Mariana Gheorghe, CEO of oil company OMV Petrom (SNP.RO), said recently the company and the Government started talks regarding royalty rates for oil and natural gas. According to Gheorghe, discussions focus on the impact increasing royalty rates may have on both the economy and OMV Petrom.
Romania collects mining and oil royalties of about 1 billion lei (EUR219 million) yearly.
The main local oil and gas companies are OMV Petrom, Rompetrol (owned by KazMunaiGaz from Kazakhstan), Lukoil (Russia), MOL (Hungary), Eni (Italy) and Romgaz Medias.
Petrom is 51.01%-owned by Austrian group OMV. The Economy Ministry holds a 20.63% stake in the company, while investment fund Fondul Proprietatea (FP.RO) owns 20.11%. (EUR1=RON4.5693)