Gas exploitation in the Black Sea is an important resource for Romania, in the context of the transition to green energy, but also in the current geopolitical context.
New edition of New Economy addressed the Black Sea from an energy and geopolitical perspective. The dialogue focused on European policies that are shaping economic transformations and imposing major changes, the opportunities created by the production that will start in 2027, but also on the need to inform citizens about this project and the new technologies that will be developed, some of which will benefit from the support of the natural gas sector.
Moderators Adrian Măniuuțiu and Daniel Apostol, Director General of Federation of Oil and Gas Employers, had as guests Ionuț Purica, Energy Expert, AREE, Cristian Păun, Prof. Univ. ASE Bucharest and Adina Ardeleanu, journalist, Financial Intelligence.
IONUȚ PURICA. NEW TECHNOLOGIES - THE SOLUTION TO LOWER CARBON EMISSIONS
We are in a context where we are oversimplifying things. If we go only on emissions, it means that decisions like „stop coal because it emits and pollutes” are wrong decisions.
The biggest source of local pollution is transportation. How will an economy without transportation work? The logical, correct thinking is not to stop transportation or coal, but to stop polluting technologies in transportation and replace them with non-polluting technologies, at least locally: electric vehicles, fuel cells, so hydrogen, stop polluting technologies in coal and replace them with technologies that are already called “clean coal, clean coal, even CO₂ storage.
CRISTIAN PĂUN. OPTIMAL USE OF GAS AND REINDUSTRIALIZATION OF ROMANIA
Black Sea gas may be the factor that will push Romania forward, but it can also be a kind of curse. Because if we don't pay attention to that resource and just exploit it, just extract it and possibly give it as it is to others, we have a problem. Of course, the mission of the companies that exploit the gas from the Black Sea is to get the gas out of there, but in addition to this mission, which they should not take on, but the government and private entities, a vertical industry should already be built on this gas, because giving it as it is is is a big mistake.
Romania, at the moment, without the gas from the Black Sea, without the energy produced from this gas, is making do with what it has, with what industry it has NO more. An accelerated industrialization should precede the moment when the first gas molecules start coming ashore.
Neptun Deep project, a strategic project, has also met with opposition, there is a populist, patriotic, even conspiratorial current. But with the takeover of the EXXON MOBILE stake by ROMGAZ, a state-owned company, the state controls about 70% of the Black Sea exploitations, including the other stakes. Thus, any argument that this project is not Romanian has been nullified, as it is practically controlled by the Romanian state at the moment.
ADINA ARDELEANU. INFORMING CITIZENS - A MULTIPLE RESPONSIBILITY
“Information is the role of companies, it's also our role as communicators or media people, it's also the role of the state, but it seems in a way that it's the role of everybody, but of nobody punctually. After all, we need personal hygiene, to see what is too good to be true or what is never as good or as bad as we are presented with. We need to inform ourselves from all possible sources, that is to say, on a given subject, if I really want to give an opinion, I really need to inform myself. A very good starting point is the Bucharest Stock Exchange. We see the figures and we can think whether it is good or bad.”
And, because information is so important, including for the energy transition, Adina Ardelean presented the main themes of the dialog within Energy Forum, 2024 edition, organized by Financial Intelligence.
„The Black Sea is becoming a new hotspot, if you like, in the geopolitical and energy context. Let's not forget that the seizure of Crimea meant not only a military issue, the port of Sevastopol for the Black Sea military fleet of the Russian Federation, it also meant the reserves in the maritime area around Crimea, which Russia can claim as its own.”
Ionuț Purica - Energy Expert, AREE
„Gas from the Black Sea represents a real opportunity for Romania to reposition itself even better in the list of countries that today form the Common Market. It is up to us, or rather the political factor in particular, to turn this chance into a real one or into a curse, which will then haunt us and cost us.”
Cristian Păun - Professor, ESA
„The Black Sea gas is a very important project for Romania and for ensuring energy security both here in our country and at regional level. What is very important in this project, from the citizens” point of view, is that the two companies that are part of this project, OMV Petrom and ROMGAZ, are also companies listed on the BVB. Therefore, anyone who wants to participate in this project, in its benefits and challenges, can do so by investing in these companies on the Stock Exchange."
Adina Ardeleanu - Journalist, Financial Intelligence
The NEW ECONOMY is a series of dialogues with specialists from the energy sector, from Authorities and Ministries, on the transformations triggered by the energy transition. These are technological but also economic changes, the imposition of higher and more costly environmental standards, and the possibility or impossibility of maintaining the competitiveness of certain branches of industry. Adrian Măniuțiu and his guests bring all these issues to the public's attention in a series that aims to inform, educate and dispel myths, in order to make the transition easier for Romania's citizens to understand, accept and go through.
