Romgaz inks deal with ExxonMobil on buying Neptun Deep project stake

Romanian state-owned oil and gas company Romgaz has concluded exclusive the negotiations to reach an agreement with ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Romania Holdings Ltd on the terms and conditions for the acquisition of the Neptun Deep project stake, so that the deal could be finalized in the first quarter of 2022, Romgaz said on Tuesday.

“SNGN Romgaz SA and ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Romania Holdings Ltd. have concluded exclusive negotiations and reached an agreement on the terms and conditions for the acquisition of all the shares issued by (representing 100 percent of the share capital of) ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Romania Limited, which holds 50 percent of the acquired rights and obligations committed to under the Leasehold Agreement for oil exploration, development and exploitation in the XIX Neptun Deep block, as well as regarding the transfer of the project operations to OMV Petrom SA starting with the date of the transaction’s completion,” the report states.

After getting the Romgaz S.A Board of Directors’s OK and the approval of the company’s shareholders’ Extraordinary General Meeting, the contract on the stake purchase will be signed. The transaction is estimated to be completed in the first quarter of 2022.

ExxonMobil and OMV Petrom are currently equal partners in the Neptun Deep deepwater project, where exploration has revealed oil deposits estimated at 42-84 billion cubic meters.

ExxonMobil announced its intention to exit Romania, and OMV Petrom said it might decide next year to invest in the Neptun Deep project, depending on the legislative changes in Romania and on the market situation.

ExxonMobil Exploration, global leader in operating complex offshore projects, and OMV Petrom, Romania’s biggest oil company, launched in October 2014 a drilling campaign in the Romanian section of the Black Sea, the Pelican South-1 exploration well on a new prospect in the Neptun Block.