British company specialized in resource investments MetalNRG PLC has announced that it has entered into exclusive negotiations with a London partner, who did not disclose his identity.
ln order to take over a majority stake in a Romanian oil and gas operator, a press release informs. MetalNRG and its London partner are interested in taking over a 75% stake in the Romanian oil and gas company.
MetalNRG did not disclose what the company is about, but made it clear that the Romanian company has a concession that is valid until 2034 and that the talks will be completed by February 2020.
Surprisingly, ANRM recently extended the concession for the Black Sea gas and oil fields for ExxonMobil and Petrom by 15 years, until 2034.
Even more “surprisingly, “Exxon announced that it wants to sell, for $ 250 million, its 50% stake in the Black Sea project. Things seem to be converging towards the fact that these British would like to enter Exxon in the Black Sea, with the majority holding 75%.
The remaining 25% could be taken over by Romgaz, the access of the Romanian state-owned company in the Neptun Deep perimeter (estimated reserves of 200 billion cubic meters) being desired by the Ministry of Energy, through the voice of Minister Virgil Popescu, but also by Romgaz’s management, through the director Adrian Volintiru According to him, Exxon would even send him a Romgaz address by which his interest in taking over a participation in the Black Sea was probed.
“I am delighted that I have set up a robust business for this investment opportunity and that I have entered into the exclusive negotiation period. Due diligence operations have begun and we expect to get into the details of this oil and natural gas concession in the coming months, ”said MetalNRG General Manager Rolf Gerritsen.
Separately, MetalNRG has announced that Pierpaolo Rocco will join the Board of Directors as executive director and will be responsible for the Romanian oil and gas project for which MetalNRG has entered into exclusive negotiations.
Pierpaolo Rocco has over two decades of experience in the oil and gas industry, including large oil companies such as Total SA, Eni SpA and Royal Dutch Shell PLC, but also subcontractors such as Saipem SpA.
Who could extract the Romanian hydrocarbons
There are global oil and gas producers, such as BP or Royal Dutch Shell (English – Dutch), which would have the scope and interest to support the Black Sea resource extraction project.
But, equally well, it is known that the UK is the favourite place to run energy business for all kinds of discrete investors around the world, who do not want to appear in front, such as the Russians, Arabs, Indians, Chinese as well. and a host of other nationalities.
If the name of the very likely buyer of Exxon’s share in the Black Sea business is not a well-known name then we might have the surprise of not knowing the actual beneficiary of the transaction. In fact, in the description on its own site, MetalNRG PLC acknowledges that it is a company that helps other companies: “MetalNRG wants to be a holding company that wants to help other companies reach their goals . ”
In the Black Sea, there are gas concessions, Exxon-Petrom, Black Sea Oil & Gas and LukOil – Romgaz. BSOG has already announced that it is starting to operate and estimates that it will extract the first quantities by the year or, at the latest, in the first part of 2021.
The largest reserves are in the Trident area of Exxon – Petrom, this consortium delaying to announce the final investment decision. Here are over 120 billion cubic meters of gas. The Russians from LukOil have announced that they also have 35 billion cubic meters in reserves, but nothing about the plans for a possible operation. In total, on the concessions already granted at sea, it is estimated at about 200 billion cubic meters of gas.
Most likely, given the fact that Romania has very little domestic consumption (only 1 in 3 households are connected and the industry consuming massively is not), these will take the export path. The EU wants them and gave us money to build the pipeline that will bring them to Vienna, the Hungarians want them a lot and they have pressured up to Washington to start operation once, Ukraine is also interested, since they have problems political with the Russians, and the Russians can have them if they are behind the British company that wants to buy the Exxon part of the Trident concession.
The offshore gas tax regime is regulated by the offshore law adopted at the end of last year, amended by the Danube Government to be more favourable to investors. The main amendment was the waiver of a mandatory quota of 50% of the extracted quantities to be marketed locally.
Source www.cotidianul.ro/concesiunea-exxon-pe-mana-unor-englezi-misteriosi/
