The Romanian government intends to exercise its right of first refusal regarding natural gas produced from the Neptun Deep field on the Black Sea continental shelf, possibly affecting Hungary’s purchase plans, reports the Transylvanian portal Krónika.
As Profit.ro confirms, the Romanian government, through the National Directorate for State Reserves and Special Affairs (ANRSPS), has announced its intention to exercise its statutory right of first refusal for the “Neptun Deep” gas field.
As a result, the ANRSPS will purchase the gas at the price offered by the Hungarian company MVM,
reports Financial Intelligence.
The volumes in question would be marketed by OMV Petrom, which holds 50 percent of the Neptun Deep concession, while the remaining stake is owned by the Romanian state-owned company Romgaz. Production in this area is expected to begin next year. The total volume involved is 5 billion cubic meters over a period of seven years. This would correspond to a total of approximately 52.75 million MWh over seven years, or 7.53 million MWh per year.
Based on current forward prices for 2027, the value of the total volume at the Dutch TTF hub—Europe’s most important gas market hub—amounts to approximately 2.1 billion euros. Negotiations are currently underway between representatives of the Romanian government and OMV Petrom regarding technical and contractual issues related to the exercise of the right of first refusal.
The Bucharest authorities do not rule out the possibility that, under bilateral intergovernmental agreements, certain volumes of gas could be supplied to countries in the region affected by shortages; however, this could only occur after it has been confirmed that there is no domestic demand to be met. Index recently reported that the Hungarian state-owned energy company MVM intends to sign a contract for the supply of gas from the Neptun Deep field in the Black Sea.
This gas would enable Hungary to replace a significant portion of its Russian gas imports in the long term.
In recent years, former Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Péter Szijjártó has repeatedly indicated that Hungary intends to source gas from Black Sea production. OMV Petrom had previously announced that it had signed supply contracts with the German company Uniper (in September 2025) and the Moldovan company Energocom (in May 2025), each accounting for approximately 1% of the estimated production volume. In addition, the Hungarian company MVM has also expressed interest in purchasing gas from the Neptun Deep field.
The fact that the Romanian government exercised its right of first refusal comes as something of a surprise, as it had already become clear:
The country simply does not have a demand for as much natural gas as can be produced at the Neptun Deep field, and a strategy for expanding the necessary infrastructure has not even been developed yet, meaning that the majority of the produced volume is expected to be exported. Currently, there is no industry in Romania with high gas demand.
Via kronika.ro, profit.ro, Index; Featured image: vivali/Wikimedia Commons
