Virgil Popescu: Romania can become a natural gas hub, after Black Sea gas production starts

All conditions will be in place for Romania to become a natural gas hub once production in the Black Sea starts, Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies Committee on the Environment and Ecological Balance Virgil Popescu, a former energy minister, said on Monday."All conditions will be in place for Romania to become a natural gas hub and I am convinced that we will manage to be a natural gas hub once production in the Black Sea starts," Popescu told the Natural Gas Forum 2023 by Financial Intelligence.Regarding the hydrogen projects, Popescu said that Romania is at the beginning in terms of hydrogen production."We had a milestone in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) regarding the production of hydrogen. A call for projects has been resumed - I understand that it is currently being evaluated - in my opinion, hydrogen is the fuel of the future, it is a non-polluting fuel. Obviously, we still have a long way to go to get there, to use hydrogen on a large scale, but hydrogen production facilities have to be developed. In my conversations with Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria about that electric power cable - and maybe you're wondering about this transition to electric energy, to this bridge between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea - we are talking about renewable energy, and the discussions were about producing hydrogen from this green energy and trying - after a feasibility study - to see what is more cost-effective: to bring renewable energy to Romania through that cable, to produce hydrogen here or to produce hydrogen, for example, in Georgia and transport that hydrogen across the Black Sea. As you can see, we are preparing in all ways, so that Romania may become an important node in European hydrogen production. I believe in hydrogen and I am convinced that Romania will manage to become an important node of hydrogen production and hydrogen transport in Europe," said Popescu.OMV Petrom and Romgaz announced this summer that they will invest up to EUR 4 billion in the development stage of the Neptun Deep project, which will generate a production of about 100 billion cubic metres of natural gas. OMV Petrom is the operator, with each of the companies holding a 50% stake in the project. The first production is estimated in 2027. The peak production is put at 8 billion cubic metres annually (about 140,000 boe/day), for about 10 years.