The Minister of Energy announced today the adoption of an extremely important law for millions of Romanians throughout the country, bringing a series of measures that will be extremely beneficial for an extremely large number of people, and this is because the offshore law was in finally voted and adopted.
The Minister of Energy speaks below about the huge importance this law has for all Romanians, and this is because we are talking about the possibility of exploiting some resources that can reduce gas prices, and not only that, its effects will be felt in Romania during the next few years.
"We voted in the Chamber of Deputies, together with a large majority, for the offshore law. As I said, since taking over the mandate of Minister of Energy, that I want a large majority, a larger majority than the governing coalition, and today I had a large vote in the Chamber of Deputies, a large vote for the Offshore Law.
It is perhaps the most important step we take towards energy independence. We can practically say that with the start of investments in the Black Sea, Romania will become energy independent, we will produce more natural gas than we consume, and the surplus will be able to be delivered outside the country and Romania can become a provider of regional energy security.
The law brings stability and predictability, a friendly tax regime and I am convinced that it will help investors make their investment decision. Moreover, it protects Romania's national interests, in case of an energy crisis we can intervene and redirect gas to domestic consumption and we can also impose a control on bilateral contracts in the sense that the State Reserves Authority can intervene and buy natural gas at the same price that operators buy in bilateral contracts.
I believe that it is a law through which both the state and investors have to gain, and I expect that investment decisions can be made. It's official: the offshore law allowing gas exploitation in the Black Sea was passed with 248 votes in favor!
We adopted a set of measures regarding the stability of the fiscal regime and oil royalties, as well as the elimination of additional income taxation for sales prices at which investors do not make excess profits (between 45,71 lei/MWh and 85 lei/MWh), while maintaining the grid of taxation following the implementation of prices higher than 85 lei/MWh."
