Page 12 - bne monthly magazine October 2022

12 I Companies & Markets bne October 2022
Separately, Popescu said that Romgaz will begin extracting gas from its onshore deep Caragele field in 2024.
Discovered in 2016 some 100 km from Bucharest, Caragele field was initially supposed to come online in 2019.
Two years later, in 2018, the deadline was already deferred to 2021-22. More recently, this year, Popescu was speaking of 2023 as the
most likely moment for beginning production at Caragele.
The deposit has an estimated accumulation of gas of roughly 25bn-27bn cubic metres, amounting to the country's entire consumption for up to three years. It was estimated at that time at a value of $4bn, but the natural gas price has tripled meanwhile.
Romgaz owns 100% of the concession contract for the perimeter located in Buzău County.
Two Turkish banks suspend use of Russian Mir cards amid US sanctions pressure
Akin Nazli in Belgrade
Signs that US warnings to Turkish businesses over help- ing Russia to skirt sanctions are starting to have an effect were in evidence on September 19 as two banks in Turkey suspended use of banks cards issued under Russian domestic payments system Mir.
First, Istanbul-listed Isbank (ISCTR) told news services that it was suspending clients’ use of Mir cards, saying it was seeking clarity on the sanctions. A little later in the day, Denizbank (a unit of Emirates NBD) told Reuters “We are currently unable to provide service” in Mir, after earlier saying that the bank “acts in accordance with international sanction regulations”.
Also on September 19, a correspondent of Russian news service TASS confirmed that he could not withdraw Turkish lira cash from an Isbank ATM with his Mir card.
On September 15, Russian media reported that some hotels in Turkey had stopped accepting Russian credit cards that link to the Mir system.
Also on that day, some unnamed US officials told the Financial Times that the US was focusing on Turkish banks that have integrated into Mir.
On September 13, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the chairman of Mir and served a warning on the heightened risk of facilitating Russia’s efforts to evade Ukraine war sanctions through the expanded use of the National Payment Card System (NSPK) or the Mir National Payment System.
Isbank told Bloomberg that it had seen the US Treasury’s statement on the issue and was evaluating it.
Prior to the war sanctions imposed on Russia, Isbank and its two government-run local peers, Ziraat Bank and Vakifbank (VAKBN), were already integrated with Mir.
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Following the imposition of the sanctions, Denizbank and state-run Halkbank (HALKB) also established connections to the Mir system.
Russians in Turkey can use other participating banks’ ATMs to cash out money. Halkbank, often seen as close to Turkey’s Erdogan administration, is thought unlikely to cease the service.
Since June, US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo has visited Ankara and has held phone calls with, and sent some letters to, Turkish companies. Adeyemo is involved in sanc- tions enforcement.
“OFAC sanctioned the chairman
of Mir and served a warning on
the heightened risk of facilitating Russia’s efforts to evade Ukraine war sanctions through the expanded use of the Mir National Payment System”