From: imbibe@mindspring.com   
      
   Romania Sees an Opening to Become an Energy Power in Europe   
   By Stanley Reed, June 15, 2022, NY Times   
      
   A row of hulking concrete domes loom along the Danube-Black Sea Canal in   
   Cernavoda, about two hours east of Bucharest. Two of the structures house   
   nuclear reactors feeding Romania’s electrical grid.  Two others were begun   
   decades ago and are still    
   waiting for completion — though, perhaps, not for long.   
      
   “We have major plans,” said Valentin Nae, the site director.   
      
   The nuclear complex was conceived during the regime of Nicolae Ceausescu, the   
   Communist dictator who ran Romania for a quarter century before he was   
   overthrown and executed in 1989. Mr. Ceausescu’s strategy was to insulate   
   Romania from the influence of    
   the Soviet Union by having it generate its own electricity.   
      
   More than 30 years on, as much of Europe looks to cut ties to Russia’s   
   energy, Romania is benefiting from Mr. Ceausescu’s thinking. The two   
   reactors very cheaply supply about 20 percent of Romania’s electricity.   
      
   Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which shares a nearly 400-mile border with   
   Romania, has strengthened Romania’s push for energy independence. Its   
   ambitious energy plans include completing two of the Cernavoda plants and   
   leading the way into a new type    
   of nuclear technology called small modular reactors. It also wants to take   
   full advantage of substantial offshore gas fields in the deep waters of the   
   Black Sea.   
      
   Yet the Romanian government is likely to keep close watch on investors and try   
   to insulate Romanians from global economic forces. Outside of the faded   
   elegance of some districts of Bucharest, Romania is a relatively poor country,   
   its median income    
   ranking near the bottom in the European Union.   
      
   “There is an ingrained mistrust in the private market,” said Radu Dudau,   
   director of the Energy Policy Group, a nonprofit in Bucharest. “There is an   
   underlying understanding and expectation that the people and the nation will   
   be safer if the state    
   controls it.”   
      
   Such principles appear to have been at work in 2018 when the government raised   
   taxes and imposed export restrictions on offshore petroleum production. Exxon   
   followed that move by putting up for sale its share of the Neptun field,   
   believed to hold tens of    
   billions of dollars’ worth of gas. On May 3, Exxon said it would sell its   
   share to Romgaz, a state-controlled firm, for about $1 billion.   
      
   If development of the project had gone ahead in 2018, Romania would perhaps be   
   close to nearly doubling its current gas production. Instead, at best, the   
   project isn’t expected to come onstream for another five years. The   
   government’s moves “   
   significantly undermined the competitiveness of Romania’s offshore for   
   investors,” said Ashley Sherman, research director for Caspian and Europe at   
   Wood Mackenzie, an energy consulting firm.   
      
   Mr. Popescu, the energy minister, said the sponsors of the 2018 legislation   
   had misjudged, figuring that Exxon would proceed with the project anyway, and   
   had been proved wrong by “real life.” Recently, with energy security much   
   higher on the agenda,    
   lawmakers passed legislation to repair the damage and ease some of the rules.   
   Soaring natural gas prices and the war in Ukraine persuaded lawmakers that   
   they had to “start exploitation of the Black Sea,” he said.   
      
   A a smaller gas field in the Black Sea began operating on Wednesday. Owned by   
   a group including a unit of Carlyle, the U.S. investment management firm, the   
   project will pipe fuel ashore near Constanta, Romania’s major port and   
   offshore drilling center.    
   Eventually, it will produce about 10 percent of Romania’s gas needs.   
      
   Developing Neptun, estimated at $4 billion, is likely to be more difficult and   
   expensive than if the work had begun a few years ago. With high oil and gas   
   prices, costs of drilling and steel and other inputs have soared. The Black   
   Sea is a risky area now    
   with mines floating around and the perils from Russian military activity   
   adding to insurance rates. Exxon also has far greater expertise in operating   
   in deep water than Romgaz or OMV Petrom, which has taken over from Exxon as   
   operator of the project.   
      
   Despite those issues, concerns over energy security are so strong that the   
   project seems likely to go ahead, even with Exxon gone, analysts say. It may   
   even help that two Romanian companies are in charge.   
      
   “I think it definitely has the right context now,” Ms. Verchere, the OMV   
   Petrom chief executive, said.   
      
   https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/15/business/romania-energy-nucle   
   r-power-natural-gas.html   
      
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