Romgaz may need to tap more funding for gas project if acquisition goes ahead, CEO says (updated)

OMV Petrom SA

23/02/2026 10:20

Adds CEO comment, details

BUCHAREST, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Romanian state-owned gas producer Romgaz SNG.BX may have to tap into additional funding to pay for its share of offshore project Neptun Deep if its acquisition of an ailing fertilizer producer goes ahead this year, its CEO said on Monday.

Romgaz has partnered with oil and gas group OMV Petrom ROSNP.BX to develop Neptun Deep in the Black Sea, one of the European Union's most significant natural gas deposits.

The project is estimated to cost 4 billion euros ($4.72 billion), evenly split between the two companies.

Romgaz has been issuing euro-denominated bonds since 2024 through a euro medium-term notes programme to finance its share of the project, but may have to tap more funding if the Azomures acquisition goes ahead this year.

"Strictly for Neptun Deep we are somewhat covered, but it depends on whether we will purchase Azomures in 2026," Romgaz CEO Razvan Popescu told an energy seminar organized by daily Ziarul Financiar.

"That is the only unknown. We think that for 2026 the existing funding we have is sufficient, we have two other credit lines available that we can use."

Romgaz is in talks to purchase fertilizer producer Azomures, controlled by Swiss grain trader Ameropa, and Popescu said the acquisition makes sense "at a certain price".

Neptun Deep holds an estimated 100 billion cubic meters of recoverable gas.

With first gas expected in 2027, the project will double Romania's gas production and likely turn it into a net exporter, at a time when the European Union is weaning itself off Russian gas.

($1 = 0.8469 euros)

 (Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Jan Harvey)

 ((luiza.ilie@thomsonreuters.com; +4021 527 0312; https://www.reuters.com/journalists/luiza-ilie;))