The 5-year deal to sell 15 terawatts of natural gas from the Neptun Deep project between OMV and Uniper, Reuters reported. The deal comes after Russian gas supplies via pipeline in Ukraine began on the first day of 2025.
The total contract volume accounts for about 1.5% of Germany's gas imports in 2024 and will be the first agreement of the Neptun Deep project.
Neptun Deep is expected to start production in 2027. The mine contains about 100 billion cubic metres of gas, making it one of the EU's most important gas mines.
When the Neptun Deep field comes into operation, Romania will become the EU's largest gas producer and net gas exporter for the first time.
OMV Petrom - majority of which OMV owns and Romania owns 20.7% - announced the discovery of 42-84 billion cubic meters of gas in the Black Sea in 2012.
OMV Petrom and state-owned manufacturer Romgaz - owner of the Neptun Deep project at a ratio of 50:50 - approved the project in 2023.
The project's output is expected to reach about 8 billion cubic meters per year for about 10 years, nearly double Romania's gas output.
Manufacturers have plans to sell their own gas. However, under Romania's law, the government will have priority to purchase gas from the Neptun Deep project.
Gas producers say there is great potential to detect more gas in the Black Sea region of Romania. Romania estimates that this area has reserves of about 200 billion m3, thereby helping to diversify the supply in the region.
In mid-December 2024, OMV said it had terminated a long-term gas purchase contract with Gazprom after the Russian company stopped deliveries in November amid rising political tensions over the conflict in Ukraine.
The decision marks the formal end of a 50-year contract, which was stalled when Gazprom stopped supplying gas to OMV.
The move also comes after OMV won an arbitration case over another contract and said it would cover the 230 million euro ($241 million) loss by not paying the invoices in the main contract with Gazprom.
