Energy Minister Burduja: Neptun Deep project moves forward; Bucharest Court rejects Greenpeace’s lawsuit

The Neptun Deep Black Sea gas exploitation project, of OMV Petrom and Romgaz, is moving forward, according to information published by Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja.

“Today, through a firm decision, the judiciary defended Romania’s interests against repeated attempts by the NGO Greenpeace to block the vital Neptun Deep project. The Bucharest Court rejected Greenpeace’s action on the merits, and the NGO must now pay 80,000 lei to the developers Romgaz and OMV Petrom,” said Energy Minister Burduja.

“This ruling confirms once again that many of these actions initiated against Romania’s strategic projects are either unfounded or inadmissible. These processes cost us time, money, and major opportunities for national development and security.

Romania has won today not just a lawsuit, but an important battle for our strategic interests. It is unacceptable that the limited resources of the Romanian state are dedicated to constantly fighting unfounded legal actions, while Greenpeace spends hundreds of thousands of lei on lawyers to start a series of lawsuits.

We said from the very beginning that we have no emotions that justice will be done. And so it was. Romania cannot allow projects essential for our energy security to be sabotaged, as they have been in recent decades.

I sincerely congratulate the Romgaz, OMV teams and colleagues from the Ministry of Energy for this fight fought with professionalism and determination. Neptun Deep is an essential project not only for Romania, but also for the entire region, ensuring cheap and abundant Romanian gas for Romanians, our brothers across the Prut and all our neighbors, at a fair price.

Today we showed that, united and determined, we can defend Romania’s interests and build a prosperous and secure future for future generations,” added Burduja.

The court’s decision can be appealed within 15 days.