Page 8 - Euroil Week 28 2019
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EurOil INVESTMENT EurOil
Exxon considers quitting Romanian gas project
ROMANIA
Romanian regulation has made offshore operators think twice.
EXXONMOBIL is reportedly looking to with- draw from plans to develop a gas eld o the coast of Romania.
e US major has informed the local gov- ernment and the country’s National Agency for Mineral Resources (ANRE) of its plans to share data on the Neptune Deep discovery with other companies, news agency G4media.ro reported on July 15, citing sources. Exxon’s aim is to seek a buyer for its 50% stake in the project, the sources said.
e company’s partner in Neptun Deep is OMV Petrom, a Romanian producer whose majority shareholder is Austria’s OMV. OMV Petrom may make a bid for Exxon’s share, G4me- dia.ro reported, as could US private equity group Carlyle, which is developing another Black Sea discovery known as Midia.
Exxon and OMV Petrom identi ed Neptun Deep in 2012, initially placing its reserves at up to 84bn cubic metres of gas. But the pair have struggled to reach a nal investment decision (FID) since then, rst because of low oil prices and later because of recent changes in energy
regulation in Romania.
e authorities in Bucharest announced the
introduction of a 2% turnover tax on gas produc- ers in December last year, along with a cap on domestic gas prices until 2022. e government later softened the price restrictions, applying them only to gas supplies to household consum- ers and not industrial users, but the levy on turn- over remains in force.
Against this backdrop, Exxon is pushing ahead with plans to divest $15bn in non-core assets by 2021, in order to invest more in its US upstream business. In late June, Norwegian business daily Dagens Naeringsliv claimed the US company was weighing up the sale of all its remaining interests in the Norwegian North Sea.
At the end of last year, Reuters cited sources as saying Exxon was also seeking to withdraw from Azerbaijan by o oading its stake in the o shore Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli (ACG) oil project. No deals in Norway or Azerbaijan have been announced so far, however.
As of press time, Exxon has not commented on its intentions at Neptun Deep.
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 28 18•July•2019
