According to Gheorghe, discussions currently focus on the impact increasing royalty rates may have on both the economy and OMV Petrom.
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 are applicable until 2014.
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.
The Government plans to apply additional taxes on extraordinary revenues of oil companies starting with 2013.
The new tax will be accompanied by a new set of fiscal regulations which will be introduced in the second half of 2013, according to the country’s latest memorandum of economic and fiscal policies to a EUR3.6 billion loan with the International Monetary Fund.
The regulatory package will comprise two segments, namely a new tax levied on gas and electricity companies for the supplementary revenues obtained following price deregulations on the local market and a new oil and gas regulatory and taxation regime for the 2015-2024 period.
The Finance Ministry said in August that the new tax on companies’ extraordinary revenues following price deregulation would be charged for the duration of the deregulation process and will be implemented as of next year, pending consultations with the relevant companies and with officials of the IMF and the European Union.
Romania has pledged to deregulate gas and electricity prices for both households and industrial consumers in several steps by 2018.