Virgil Popescu officially announced today a last-minute decision that was adopted for all of Romania, and millions of Romanians will be able to benefit from it, and we are talking about a law on offshore oil perimeters, it was adopted today by the Senate Romania.
Virgil Popescu says that after it will be adopted by the Chamber of Deputies, which is the decision-making chamber, this law should allow investments that will ultimately lead to offshore oil exploitation, but maybe also to the reduction of fuel prices thanks to them.
"Senators adopted today (with 91 votes in favor) the legislative proposal to amend and supplement Law no. 256/2018 regarding some measures necessary for the implementation of oil operations by the holders of oil agreements related to offshore oil perimeters, which was initiated by me together with colleagues from Parliament Nicolae Ciucă, Marcel Ciolacu, Kelemen Hunor and Varujan Pambuccian.
Next comes the debate in the committees and the adoption of the law by the Chamber of Deputies, which is decisive. I trust that, as promised, it will be adopted by the end of this parliamentary session.
The purpose of the legislative proposal is to amend and supplement Law no. 256/2018 regarding some measures necessary for the implementation of oil operations by the holders of oil agreements related to offshore oil perimeters, with subsequent amendments and aims to adopt a set of measures regarding the stability of the fiscal regime and oil royalties included in the Offshore Law, as well as the elimination of taxation additional income for sales prices at which investors do not make excess profits (between 45,71 lei/MWh and 85 lei/MWh), with the maintenance of the tax grid following the implementation of prices higher than 85 lei/MWh.
Concretely, it is proposed to increase from 30% to 40% the maximum level for the deduction of investments from the upstream segment for the determination of the additional tax, the elimination of the limitation of the deduction of investments for the calculation of the profit tax, the regulation of the fiscal regime for onshore perimeters with a depth greater than or equal to 3000 m isobatics and the elimination of the use of the reference price in determining the basis for calculating the additional income tax.
Through this law, we will ensure the independence and energy security of Romania and, at the same time, through the proposed amendments, we will stimulate the development of small and medium-sized enterprises involved in the offshore sector, related industries, as well as those positively affected by the indirect and induced economic impact generated by offshore projects . These additional natural gas resources would contribute to ensuring Romania's sustainable energy supply, to achieving long-term decarbonization targets."
