Radio România Internațional

Tag: offshore law

May 26, 2022

Africa Day. The Romanian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs hailed the celebration of Africa Day on May 25, a symbol of
African unity and the importance of this continent globally. This year, the
African Union has set as theme for the day ‘Strengthening resilience in nutrition
and food security on the African continent’. The issue is all the more
important in the context of Russia’s illegal, unjustified and unprovoked
aggression against Ukraine, which has complex consequences, including from the
perspective of food security, for many states in various regions of the world,
many close partners of Romania and the European Union, the Rumanian Foreign
Ministry has said. In this context, the
diplomacy in Bucharest reiterates the call for solidarity, cooperation and
coordination, which must be assumed by the entire international community and
by all UN member states, in order to ensure global food security and thus
respect universal human rights. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recalls that,
in the last weeks, as a result of the war in Ukraine, the Romanian port of Constanta,
on the Black Sea, has become one of the main gateways for the transport of
Ukrainian cereals to third markets. To date, more than 240,000 tons of grain
have been exported from Ukraine via Constanta.

Monkeypox. The number of confirmed cases
of monkeypox worldwide rose to 219 on Wednesday outside the West and Central
African countries where the disease is endemic, according to a report published
by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). 19 countries
where the disease is uncommon, mostly in Europe, have reported at least one
confirmed case. Ranking first in terms of confirmed cases are the United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal. Most
of the cases were detected in young men, self-identifying as men who have sex with
men. There’s been no death, said the
Stockholm-based European agency. Monekypox is a less dangerous variant of
smallpox , which was eradicated some forty years ago. There are no specific
treatments or vaccines for monkeypox, but the multiplication of cases can be
stopped by vaccination against smallpox.

Gas. Romania can officially start exploiting the Black
Sea gas, after the promulgation, on Wednesday, of the offshore law. According
to its provisions, the Romanian state will have priority in extracting the
deposit and will collect 60% of the profit, while investors will get 40
percent. The first extraction should start in June, through the project carried
out in Midia by the Black Sea Oil & Gas company. One of the directors of
Romgaz, a company with majority state capital, told Bloomberg that Romania
could accelerate its first drilling project in the deep waters of the Black
Sea, against the background of the natural gas crisis in Europe. Romgaz is a
partner involved in the Neptune Deep project.

PSD. The Social Democratic Party (PSD), a member of the
ruling coalition in Romania together with the National Liberal Party and the
Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, is to present today its
six-month report on Executive activity. The
Social Democrat leader, Marcel Ciolacu, has announced that PSD will present to
the Romanians an ‘honest and realistic’ image of this period. ‘We don’t want to
cosmeticize reality. We know what people’s difficulties are and what they
expect from us , Ciolacu wrote on Facebook.

Visit. On
Wednesday, Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, was received by
president Klaus Iohannis and met with Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca and the
Custodian of the Crown of Romania, Princess Margaret. He also visited a Ukrainian
refugee center. Prince Charles has been visiting Romanian for 20 years now and
he owns several properties here. He is a major promoter of Romania’s unique
heritage and biodiversity. This is his first visit in three years due to the pandemic.

Refugees. More than 9,000 Ukrainian
citizens have entered neighboring Romania in the last 24 hours, up 8.5% from
the previous day – the General Inspectorate of the Border Police has today
reported. According to an IGPF
communiqué, on Wednesday, within 24 hours, at national level, 75,907 people
entered Romania through its border crossing points, out of which 9,049
Ukrainian citizens. More than 6.6 million people have fled Ukraine since the
start of the Russian invasion three months ago.

Tennis. The best
Romanian player of the moment, Simona Halep, returns today to the arenas of the
Roland Garros Grand Slam tournament in Paris, for the second round match
against the Chinese Zheng Qinwen. The match was selected by specialized
journalists as one of the top 5 games not to be missed. Halep and Zheng have
met only once so far, in winter, at Melbourne Summer Set 1, a tournament that
the Romanian won. Also today, in the second round, Irina Begu will play against
the Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova. Romania had seven players on the main
singles table, three of whom reached the second round. Sorana Cîrstea was
already defeated, on Wednesday, by the American Sloane Stephens, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0. (MI)

26 May 2022
Parliament passes the offshore law

With 248 votes in favor and 34 votes against, the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday adopted the modifications brought to the offshore law, regulating the exploitation of natural gas in offshore deposits in the Black Sea and in low-depth pockets on land. This is perhaps the most important step towards achieving energy independence. Energy Minister Virgil Popescu said the new version of the law provides stability and predictability and ensures an investor-friendly tax system, at the same time protecting Romanian consumers and the countrys interests.

“Romanias royalty share will stand at some 13% of the additional income taxes and of corporate taxes. Romania will also benefit from additional jobs. And most importantly, it will become energy independent.”

The offshore law also allows the Romanian state to purchase the extracted natural gas before anyone else. The profit will be split 60% – 40% between the state and investors. The government will also be able to intervene in case of an energy crisis and redirect gas production towards domestic consumption. The project was also hailed by PSD and UDMR. Social-Democrat MP Alfred Simonis:

“Romania might become an important player that could start delivering gas when Putin turns it off. It will be able to ensure the necessary demand of Moldova, naturally not for free, as well as in case of Ukraine and other countries in the region and beyond.”

USR MPs in opposition voted the version tabled by the ruling coalition. AUR, on the other hand, criticized the lack of sanctions for economic operators, and hence voted against. Romania is currently the EU country with the lowest degree of reliance on Russian gas, and the second-largest producer of oil and gas at community level. Romania has large quantities of untapped natural gas deposits in the Black Sea. For years, economic analysts criticized the lack of strategic vision and legal uncertainty that prevented the exploitation of these resources. Once the offshore law is ratified, the situation will hopefully turn around. The total value of maritime natural gas stands at some 200 billion cubic meters, the largest quantity being located in the Neptune Deep offshore area, owned by the Romanian state-owned enterprise Romgaz and OMV Petrom. From there, the first quantities of gas are expected to be extracted in late 2026 or early 2027. In the Midia area, exploitation works are ongoing, meaning that the Black Sea Oil & Gas company will start extracting natural gas this year. The investment is expected to yield one billion cubic meters of natural gas per year. (VP)

19 May 2022
May 18, 2022

WAR IN UKRAINE
– Russia is pressing the attack in Ukrainian oblasts and intensifying its
provocative actions in the borderlands, thus trying to offset a series of
military failures, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said in his
traditional address to the nation on Tuesday evening. In turn, Defense Minister
Oleksy Reznikov said the war against Moscow is entering an extended stage,
whereby the Russian Federation is trying to gain full control over Donbas and
occupy the south of Ukraine. The Ukrainian Minister called on Ukraine’s Western
allies to coordinate their deliveries of weapons to Kyiv. Today, the
Prosecutor’s Office is bringing to court the first Russian soldier accused of
having shot an unarmed civilian. This is the first war crimes trial in Ukraine,
although many others are expected to follow, and will mark a test for the
Ukrainian judiciary, at a time when international institutions are starting
their own investigations into the war crimes committed by Russian troops in
this country, AFP reports.

ICJ -
Romanian has decided to intervene in Ukraine’s favor at the UN International
Court of Justice in the legal action launched against the Russian Federation,
the Romanian Foreign Ministry announced today. On February 26, 2022, Ukraine
filed a suit against the Russian Federation at the ICJ, regarding the interpretation,
enforcement and compliance with the obligations stipulated in the 1948 Genocide
Convention. According to the MFA, Ukraine claimed the Russian Federation has
falsely reported genocide in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts in order to
justify the recognition of the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk
and Luhansk, as well as to carry out a special military operation against
Ukraine. Based on these false allegations, the Russian Federation is to date
engaged in a military invasion of Ukraine, with serious and large-scale effects
on human rights and humanitarian international law, the Romanian MFA also
writes.

NATO -
Finland and Sweden have today submitted their formal applications to join NATO.
Tomorrow, Sweden’s Prime Minister, Magdalena Andresson and Finland’s president,
Sauli Niinisto will travel to Washington to meet US president Joe Biden. Amidst
Russia’s continuous threats regarding reprisals in the event of the two countries’
NATO accession, the main obstacle seems to come from within NATO itself.
Turkey, whose vote is essential to officially admit Sweden and Finland into
NATO, has so far opposed this scenario, blaming the two countries for refusing
its requests to extradite persons whom Turkey believes to be members of terrorist
organizations, such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), as well as for
suspending weapons exports to Turkey. Analysts believe Turkey is trying to gain
leverage for voting in favor of the two countries’ NATO accession, such as
lifting the USA’s refusal to sell F-35 fighter jets to Ankara.

OFFSHORE LAW -
The Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest has today adopted the draft law amending
the Offshore Law. With 248 votes in favor and 34 votes against, the new law
will allow the exploitation of natural gas deposits in the Black Sea. Whereas
the ruling coalition made up of PSD, PNL and UDMR supported the new law,
arguing it safeguards Romania’s energy security, AUR, a nationalist opposition
party, criticized the law, claiming it provides benefits without any sanctions
for investors. Energy Minister Virgil Popescu says the exploitation works in
the Black Sea will produce more natural gas than Romania will be able to
consume, saying that the additional revenues obtained as a result must be
directed towards investments. Representatives of the Oil and Gas Federation
said the new offshore law has been substantially improved and is based on
stability, predictability, competitive taxation and the free market.

MINIMUM WAGE
– The Government is today expected to pass an emergency decree allowing
employers to operate a tax-free increase in the minimum wage. The measure will
take effect starting June 1 and is part of the Support for Romania package,
designed to combat the negative effects of the price hikes. Workers with
full-time individual employment agreements are eligible for the wage increase,
as well as people who are hired over June 1 – December 31, 2022. Basically,
employees can opt to increase the minimum wage from 510 to 550 Euro.

MILITARY COMMITTEES – The
Romanian Chief of General Staff, General Daniel Petrescu is attending the
meeting of the European Union Military Committee and the NATO Military
Committee, both held in Brussels until May 19. The agenda of today’s EUMC meeting
includes the implementation of the Strategic Compass, the document regulating
the EU’s defense and security framework until 2025, the effects of the war in
Ukraine as well as the EU’s top priorities in the field of defense and
security. The NATO meeting scheduled for tomorrow will discuss the geostrategic
context and preparations for the NATO Summit in Madrid. NATO Defense Ministers
will also look the developments in Ukraine, the implementation of the
Deterrence and Defense Concept in the Euro-Atlantic area and NATO’s long-term
posture. NATO Defense Ministers will also discuss NATO’s warfare concept, the
Romanian Defense Ministry reports. (VP)

18 May 2022
Senate passes Offshore Law

The plenum of the Romanian Senate has adopted amendments to the offshore law. Delayed for a long time, the law regulates the operations regarding the development and exploitation of oil deposits in the offshore perimeters, off the Romanian Black Sea Coast in the Black Sea, as well as of deep oil deposits in onshore perimeters. The bill amending the offshore law establishes the distribution of 40% of the profit obtained to the investors and 60% to the Romanian state, which has the right of pre-emption to gas acquisition. During the meeting, the Energy Minister, Virgil Popescu, highlighted that this law would ensure Romania’s gas security in case of an energy crisis, pointing out that Romania could also become a provider of regional energy security, after it will produce more than it will consume.

He added that the first gas from the Black Sea could be extracted starting with the second half of this year. At the same time, the new law increases the investment deduction allowance from 30% to 40% of the total additional income tax. The senators of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the National Liberal Party (PNL), the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) and Save Romania Union (USR) voted in favor of the document. During the plenary debates, the leader of the Social Democrats, Radu Oprea, said that the law was good and necessary for all Romanian citizens, and the money coming from the gas exploitation will reach the local communities.

Radu Oprea: “We have a war near Romania’s borders, we need gas, we need Black Sea Oil & Gas (USA) to be able to supply gas to the citizens of Romania starting next month. It means 10% of the gas that others in this room want to import from other countries. This is not possible and desirable for the Romanian economy, for the Romanian industry, and for the citizens of Romania.”

The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) is the only party that has voted against this law, which they label as anti-national, and they have demanded that the exploitation of natural gas be done exclusively by Romanian companies.

Senator Rodica Boancă: “AUR has voted against this national betrayal and against this plundering, which will lead to the exploitation and sale of resources of national and strategic importance, especially in an economic war that we are currently going through, and it is very clear that the price of gas will not decrease, we will not have a free energy market. “

Romanias gas production has dropped in recent years, and 2021 brought high energy prices across Europe. The Romanian economic area of the Black Sea has reserves of over 200 billion cubic meters, an amount that could cover national consumption for the next 20 years. In 2019, in Romania, 79% of the total amount of natural gas was from domestic production, 8% imported from Russia and the remaining 13% from other countries. This in the context in which, in Finland and Macedonia, the gas is imported entirely from Russia, Latvia imports 93% Russian gas and Estonia 79%. Germany, Europes strongest economy, imports almost half of its natural gas from Russia and the other half from other countries. (LS)

12 May 2022
Steps towards energy independence

Romanias internal energy output makes it one of the most energy-independent states at EU level, according to data released by the European Commission in 2020. Romanias energy reliance at the time stood at 28%, against an EU average of over 50%. The situation is good, compared to Italys reliance of 73% or Germanys 64% share, or Malta and Cyprus, two countries that are almost fully reliant on energy imports. Romania has its own sources of oil, gas, coal, nuclear energy and hydroelectric energy. Besides, it has over 1,400 billion cubic meters of shale gas, the third-largest reserve in Europe after Poland and France, according to estimates by the American Administration for Energy Information. Romania has recently made a new step towards consolidating its energy security and curbing its reliance on Russian gas.

The state-owned company Romgaz has signed the contract for the purchase of ExxonMobils share in the Neptune Deep project, namely 50% of the rights and obligations regarding the deep-water gas field in the Black Sea. Romanias largest natural gas producer paid over a billion USD for this major deal. According to estimates, over 80 billion cubic meters of gas can be extracted from this field, and ExxonMobil owned half of the exploitation rights, the other half being owned by OMV Petrom. Both companies need however a few billion Euro to complete this strategic project for Romania. Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă pointed out that natural gas in the Black Sea will be extracted as early as 2026. He explained that estimates show there are large enough quantities to supply neighboring countries and those in the EU as well.

The governments investment-based plan for developing Romanias energy sector has a business and stability-oriented approach which will make Romania a major regional player, capable of ensuring the necessary demand of its own citizens and economy and actually becoming an importer supplier of energy security in the region, the Prime Minister went on to say. Before starting extracting gas from the Black Sea, investors are waiting on the authorities to amend the offshore law, which is now debated by the Senates special committees. The main modifications to the document adopted four years ago have to do with lowering exploitation taxes for deposits in the Black Sea and on land, as well as with the elimination of restrictions on prices, all part of a legal framework to ensure predictability. The Romanian state and state-owned enterprises will be given priority to buy the resulting output, while 60% of the profit will go to the state. Additionally, companies will be able to deduct 40% of their investment, compared to 30% under the current legislation. (VP)

4 May 2022
October 3, 2018

NATO — Brussels is hosting, as of today, a two-day meeting of the NATO Defense Ministers, the first such meeting after the Alliance’s summit in July, which marks the beginning of the implementation stage of the Declaration adopted in summer. Defense Minister Mihai Fifor represents Romania at the meeting. Developments on NATO’s eastern flank and the reform of the Alliance’s command structure are high on the meeting’s agenda, which also includes talks about setting up support teams trained to counteract hybride and cyber attacks.

EC – European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans has warned Romania’s government that it might end up in court if it continues its policies to relax the fight against corruption. Timmermans made the comments on Monday, October 1st, at the civil liberties committee in the European Parliament ahead of a plenary debate on Romanias rule of law on Wednesday, with Romanian prime minister Viorica Dancila. Romania has made progress in the past, sometimes even spectacular progress, but it’s moving back in a way that would be damaging not only for Romanian democracy but for the place Romania has built as an EU member state,” Timmermans said. Attending the debates on Wedensady, PM Viorica Dancila asked for Romania to be treated as an equal partner within the EU and said that nobody could prevent the country from continuing its European path.

RULING — Romania’s Constitutional Court rejected on Wednesday the notification submitted by the country’sKlaus Iohannis, regarding modifications to the Law on the Romanian territory’s administrative organisation, Agerpres news agency reports. Iohannis had signalled the presence of some major dirfferences in terms of legal content, between the versions passed by the two Parliament chambers.

AGRICULTURE – Romanian Agriculture Minister, Petre Daea is today travelling to Brussels to discuss with European Commission represenatives about additional funds to be paid to farmers who were affected by the African swine fever. Around 11.5 million euro worth of damages have so far been paid to 5,000 Romanian farmers. Over 960 sine fever hotbetds have been confirmed in Romania, and hundreads of thousands of pigs have been culled.

LAWS – The offshore law, regulating gas exploitation in the Black Sea, was debated on Wednesday in the Chamber of Deputies’ plenary sitting, that decided to send it back to the expert committees. The Social Democratic Party’s deputies made some important changes to the law adopted by the Senate last week. PSD’s amendments were criticized by the opposition MPs as well as by deputies of their coalition partner. Oil companies have expressed concern about the new offshore law, saying that it may discourage new investment in the Black Sea. This is the second time this law is being voted. The Parliament initially adopted the offshore law in early July, but president Klaus Iohannis sent it back for review.

PENITENTIARIES – Hundreds of trade unionists with the Romanian penitentiaries have decided to protest today, in front of the Justice Ministry’s headquarters, against the poor working conditions and the unpaid overtime. They say their protest is also against the “indolence and incompetence” of the Justice Minister Tudorel Toader, and ask for the resignation of the general director appointed unlawfully. If their demans are left unanswered, protests will be taken to the next stage, by blocking the penitentiaries’ activity, trade unionists have warned.

3 October 2018