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Energy & Environment
Economy Ministry agrees on reserves being mined at Rosia Montana
Thursday, September 15, 2011
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and the Business Milieu (MECMA) agrees on reserves being mined at Rosia Montana, provided that the project wins all the environmental approvals it needs, state secretary with MECMA Claudiu Stafie told a Focus Energy conference on Thursday.'The problem with the Rosia Montana project is at the Environment Ministry. The company has to first win an environmental certificate and only then can we talk about the mining proper. MECMA agrees on the project,' ...
ANRM president: Romania's gold reserves stand at 700 tonnes at least
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Romania has gold reserves of at least 700 tonnes and 2,000 tonnes of silver, according to the data made public by relevant companies, said on Thursday the president of the National Agency for Mineral Resources (ANMR), Alexandru Patruti at the Energy Focus Conference. 'The gold reserves are classified, but some companies have made public the deposits where they have licenses. Thus, there are 700 tonnes of gold and 2,000 tonnes of silver. There are Rosia Poienii (Alba County, west), ...
WWF criticises Romania expropriation bill
Thursday, September 15, 2011
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on Friday criticised a draft law enabling mining companies to expropriate land in Romania, fearing it would aid a controversial mine project in Transylvania."We fear that this legislation would directly benefit the operation at Rosia Montana in Transylvania. We hope that in the 21st century no EU member state can afford to adopt legislation to suit specific business interests", Magor Csibi, Programme Manager of the WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme in ...
President Basescu: We are under the obligation to reopen mines by the end of the year
Thursday, September 15, 2011
President Traian Basescu on Saturday said mines must reopen by the end of the year in order to create jobs in 2012.'Right now the gold is the jobs. Whoever can create jobs will take the country out of difficulties, while those who cannot create jobs will not take the country out of the crisis, no matter how much money they may pour into banks. We have the ongoing investments, we have infrastructure programmes and we have natural resources in the ground: gold, silver, copper, all of ...
Talks on state aid for mining
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Minister of Economy Ion Ariton had talks in Brussels with the European Commission Vice-president, European Commissioner for competition, Joaquin Almunia, on an eventual acceleration of technical procedures for the approval of state aid granted to the National Mining Coal, according to a release of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business (MECMA). Also, the two officials discussed the debt-equity conversion approval in the case of Oltchim in favor of the Authority for State ...
Cogeneration requires over 1 bln euros in annual spending
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Cogeneration (the combined production of heat and power) requires more than RON 4.5 billion in annual spending (over one billion euros at a rate of RON 4.2 for 1 euro), whereas heating subsidies over the past five years totaled RON 7.8 billion (about 1.85 billion euros), Maria Manicuta, head of the of the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) told a conference on energy efficiency this Tuesday.'To get a full picture of the disaster, annual expenditures for heat and power ...
Bloomberg : Romanian Utilities May Get 75 Million Free 2013-2020 CO2 Permits
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Romania may give about 75 million free carbon permits to energy producers in the seven years starting in 2013, with oil company OMV Petrom SA and two state- owned power plants poised to get almost half of the allowances.The country's Economy Ministry will apply to the European Union regulators for the free permits before the Sept. 30 deadline, according to an e-mailed response to questions from Bloomberg. It has already started public consultations on the proposal to allocate the ...
Romania eyes shale gas opportunity
Thursday, September 15, 2011
The recent Romanian delegation that was welcomed by US top political figures also aimed at opening a new set of deals regarding the shale gas exploitation. Chevron, an American energy company with extensive experience in this field, already owns blocks in Romania that contain shale gas deposits.The Romanian minister of Foreign Affairs, Theodor Baconschi and US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton discussed the possibility of the United States offering expertise for joint projects in ...
1.18 million tonnes coal and 134,524 tonnes black oil taken from state reserve
Thursday, September 8, 2011
A quantity of 1.18 million tonnes of coal and 134,524 tonnes of black oil might be taken from the state reserve as a loan till October 31, 2012 and be given to some businesses subordinated to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and the Business Environment (MECMA) or the county or local councils, according to a draft ordinance that was published on the MECMA site.This fuel will be taken from the state reserve because 70 percent of the capacity to store coal and 50 percent of the ...
EnvMin Borbely: Green cards will replace pollution tax
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Green cards, to be introduced by 2013, will replace the current collection system for pollution taxes on motor vehicles according to the principle the polluter pays, Minister of the Environment and Forestry Laszlo Borbely said on Tuesday in Pitesti.'I am considering introducing, if possible in mid-2012, if not on January 1, 2013, the green card. This means, the same as in other countries, that a car owner will have to visit those checking the polluting emissions coming out of the ...
Romania to Pass Renewable Law by Year End, Regulator Says
Thursday, September 8, 2011
The Romanian parliament may approve a law on renewable energy by the end of this year which will give incentives for investors, said Zoltan Nagy-Bege, the head of the country’s energy regulator. The government will amend the law, cleared by the European Commission, by the end of September and then seek approval from parliament, Nagy-Bege said today at an energy conference in the southern Romanian city of Constanta. Romania plans to generate 24 percent of its energy from ...
OMV Petrom Gets Three Year Extension On Exploration Of Nine Blocks
Thursday, September 8, 2011
The Romanian government on Wednesday announced it has extended by three years the exploration permits held by OMV Petrom on nine land blocks and one marine block, with a cumulated surface of 23,000 square kilometers. "In addition, renegotiations reduced the overall exploration area by 30%," said government spokesperson Ioana Muntean. Two months ago, the government extended by five years the exploration permit held by OMV Petrom on the Neptun block in the Black Sea. ...
Gov't sets minimum stocks of crude oil and oil products
Thursday, September 1, 2011
The National Administration of State Reserves and Contingencies (ANRSPS) will set up 30 percent of the total stocks of crude oil and oil products that have to be set aside by December 31, 2011, the Government decided on Wednesday.The Government also decided that the remaining 70 percept of the stocks will be set aside from own sources by the business operators according to their 2010 market share and the stocks set up by them in 2002-2009.A breakdown of the crude oil and ...
Bloomberg: Petrom Concludes Talks With Romanian Regulator on Licenses
Thursday, September 1, 2011
OMV Petrom SA completed talks with the Romanian mineral resources regulator for an extension of its exploration licenses in the country and is waiting government approval, after giving up 25 percent of the initially contracted permits, according to a regulatory official.Petrom, which has been in talks with the authorities to renew exploration licenses for 14 onshore oil and gas blocks, seeks a three-year extension of the permits and plans to stop exploring some blocks and portions ...
Revised Arrangements for Bobocu Gas Field Romania
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Cooper Energy Limited (ASX:COE) is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, CE Bobocu Pty Ltd (CE Bobocu), has entered into a staged farm-in agreement with Zeta Petroleum (Romania) SRL (Zeta), a wholly owned subsidiary of Zeta Petroleum Limited (UK) (Zeta Petroleum), to earn up to a 50% interest in the Bobocu Gas Field on-shore Romania (Farm-in Agreement).The Bobocu Gas Field is described in Cooper Energy's announcement of 2 August 2010.The Farm-in Agreement ...
Romania suspended from Kyoto carbon trading
Thursday, September 1, 2011
A UN panel has suspended Romania's right to trade its surplus carbon emissions after it breached rules on emissions reporting, Bucharest's environment ministry said on 28 August.The UNFCCC compliance committee, which had been meeting in Bonn for a week, found "irregularities" in Romania's 2010 greenhouse gas emissions data, and ruled that its national emissions inventory had been inadequately kept."Maybe tough measures will lead to more transparent information," Natalia Yakymenko, an analyst ...
Energy Holding tops electric power traders
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Energy Holding has topped the private electric power trade in the last years, having switched from a few-million-euro business to more than 200 million euros, the Ziarul Financiar daily reports on Tuesday.The key to such surge was the long-term contract the company had and still has with Hidroelectrica, the cheapest electricity producer in Romania, with Energy Holding continuing to be the second-largest client of this state-owned company producing hydro-energy, after aluminium ...
Petrom Concludes Talks With Romanian Regulator on Licenses
Thursday, August 25, 2011
OMV Petrom SA (SNP) completed talks with the Romanian mineral resources regulator for an extension of its exploration licenses in the country and is waiting government approval, after giving up 25 percent of the initially contracted permits, according to a regulatory official. Petrom, which has been in talks with the authorities to renew exploration licenses for 14 onshore oil and gas blocks, seeks a three-year extension of the permits and plans to stop exploring some blocks and ...
Romania May Auction Black Sea Oil, Gas Blocks Permits Next Year
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Romania may auction exploration licenses for six oil and gas blocks in the Black Sea as early as next year after the global crisis kept investors away at previous auctions, said Alexandru Patruti, the head of Romania’s Mineral Resources Agency. “We have six more blocks to award in the Black Sea, but we will definitely not organize auctions this year,” Patruti said in an interview from Bucharest yesterday. “We haven’t receive any offers for these blocks so far, probably because the drilling ...
Proprietatea Fund demands Hidroelectrica and Nuclearelectrica be listed as soon as possible
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Proprietatea Fund (FP), as minority shareholder, demanded EGMs (extraordinary general meeting) at Hidroelectrica and at Nuclearelectrica to approve the listing of the two companies on Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB).'We strongly believe that Hidroelectrica and Nuclearelectrica are ready to come up on the market and that this process should be started as soon as possible. The companies need funding, more transparency and openness, a better corporate governance and a higher ...