The deal between OMV and Uniper to sell 15 terawatt hours of gas from the Neptun Deep project is for five years, Reuters reported. The deal comes after Russian gas pipelines in Ukraine are cut off from the first of 2025.
The total contract volume represents around 1.5% of Germany's gas imports in 2024 and will be the first deal for the Neptun Deep project.
Neptun Deep is expected to start production in 2027. The gas field contains around 100 billion cubic metres of gas, making it one of the EU's most important gas fields.
When the Neptun Deep field comes online, Romania will become the EU's largest gas producer and a net gas exporter for the first time.
OMV Petrom - majority-owned by OMV and 20.7% by Romania - announced the discovery of 42-84 billion cubic metres of gas in the Black Sea in 2012.
OMV Petrom and state producer Romgaz - which owns the Neptun Deep project 50:50 - approved the project in 2023.
Output at the project is expected to reach around 8 billion cubic metres per year over about 10 years, nearly double Romania's gas output.
Producers plan to sell the gas privately. However, under Romanian law, the government will have priority in purchasing gas from the Neptun Deep project.
Gas producers say there is huge potential for further gas discoveries in Romania’s Black Sea region, which Romania estimates to hold around 200 billion cubic metres of reserves, which would help diversify regional supplies.
In mid-December 2024, OMV said it had terminated its long-term gas purchase contract with Gazprom after the Russian company stopped deliveries in November amid rising political tensions related to the conflict in Ukraine.
The decision marks the formal end of the 50-year contract, which was suspended 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 230 million euros ($241 million) in damages by not paying bills under its main contract with Gazprom.
