The Senate decided with 81 votes for, nine against and 15 abstentions to pass the bill, which was sent back for re-examination by President Iohannis in August.
Romania’s Lower Chamber will hold a decisive vote on the bill in the following days.
One amendment brought to the bill within the committee, proposed by Romania’s Tourism Ministry, stipulates that exploitations close to the shore must not affect access to the Black Sea beaches.
Another amendment specifies that current oil exploitations would be regulated by the agreements existing at the date of the bill’s enactment.
The bill in question, which sets a progressive taxation system for gas extracted from the Black Sea and establishes that half the quantity should be returned to the Romanian Government, was passed by the Parliament at the beginning of July.
However, President Iohannis requested the bill’s re-examination in August, criticizing what he called as a lack of predictability and stability in the form it was passed.