The Romanian project for the development of gas fields in the Black Sea has become a hostage to sanctions against Lukoil. The company withdraws from the project and demands to recognize force majeure.
"Lukoil Overseas Atash, a subsidiary of the Russian Lukoil, has filed a lawsuit against the state-owned Romgaz company and the National Agency for Mineral Resources of Romania, citing the existence of a case of force majeure after the company withdrew from the Trident offshore natural gas project in the Black Sea," Agerpres agency reports.
According to him, the lawsuit was filed in the Bucharest court with the requirement to recognize the case of force majeure.
The fact is that since October, US sanctions against the Russian company have come into force, and on February 11, the Ministry of Energy recommended introducing expanded supervision of companies owned by Lukoil in Romania.
Lukoil also announced its withdrawal from the Trident project in the Black Sea. The company acted as its operator and three wells were drilled at the site. One of them showed possible reserves of up to 30 billion cubic meters.
"The withdrawal of Lukoil from the Trident project is not just a corporate step. This is an X—ray of our energy vulnerabilities and strategic delays that have accumulated over the past decade," Dumitru Chiselica, president of the Association of Intelligent Energy (AEI), told the agency.
In his opinion, force majeure has become an economic and geopolitical problem.
"On paper "Trident was one of the potential elements of the energy security of Romania and Europe. Far from being as powerful as the Deepwater Neptune block, but promising enough to make a difference in a region that is trying to replace dependence on Russian gas with local production. Irony! A project aimed at reducing Europe's dependence on gas from Russia, as a result, was blocked because of the sanctions imposed against Russia," said Dumitru Chiselica.
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