The Romgaz branch in Chisinau was registered on Thursday with the Public Services Agency of the Republic of Moldova, in the State Register of Legal Entities, the company informs through a release sent to AGERPRES.

“The process of registering the Romgaz Branch in Chisinau falls within the scope of the company’s actions in order to expand its gas supply activity at the regional level, an objective foreseen in the company’s strategy for the period 2021 – 2030. Romgaz wants to contribute to ensuring the security of gas supply natural resources in the Republic of Moldova, and the step taken today ensures the prerequisites for achieving this goal,” stated Razvan Popescu, general director of Romgaz, quoted in the press release.

For his part, Aristotel Jude, deputy general director of Romgaz, stated that in the next period the company will take the necessary steps to obtain the natural gas supply license on the territory of the Republic of Moldova.

“We are convinced that the presence of Romgaz in the Republic of Moldova and the trading of natural gas on the centralized market of the Republic of Moldova will effectively contribute to the liberalization of the natural gas market in this country and the creation of the premises necessary to establish a real price for the benefit of consumers”, Jude pointed out.

The Romgaz National Gas Company is the largest producer and main supplier of natural gas in Romania. The company is admitted to trading on the market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The main shareholder is the Romanian state with a 70% stake. The company has a vast experience in the field of natural gas exploration and production, its history starting more than 100 years ago, in 1909.

Romgaz carries out geological exploration in order to discover new gas deposits, produces methane gas by exploiting deposits from the company’s portfolio, stores natural gas underground, performs interventions, capital repairs and special operations at wells and provides professional technological transport services. In 2013, Romgaz expanded its field of activity by assimilating the thermal power plant in Iernut, thus becoming a producer and supplier of electricity.

On August 1, 2022, Romgaz became the sole shareholder of Romgaz Black Sea Limited (established ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Romania Limited), following the completion of the acquisition transaction and the transfer of all shares issued by (representing 100% of the share capital of) ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Romania Limited, which holds 50% of the rights acquired and the obligations assumed by the Oil Agreement for the deep water area of the XIX Neptun offshore perimeter in the Black Sea.

The Government established on Thursday, by emergency ordinance, the legal framework through which the Authority for the Administration of State Assets (AAAS) takes over budget debts on some companies with majority and/or wholly state capital of strategic importance for the economy of Romania, which are administered by the National Fiscal Administration Agency (ANAF) and are in insolvency prevention or insolvency proceedings.

According to a Government’s release, the measure of taking over the debts by AAAS aims at monitoring through a single institution, maximizing the recouping of debts, with beneficial results on the economic activity of these companies.

“This procedure will contribute to the collection of debts, simultaneously with the development of the economic activity of these companies, by attracting potential investors, and will have an important social impact, by keeping the jobs that are currently at risk. Concretely, AAAS takes over from ANAF budget debts – taxes, fees, fines and other revenues of the general consolidated budget, including accessories – on some companies with majority or full state capital. The debts will be calculated until the date of entry into force of the approved emergency ordinance, and after the takeover by ANAF, they will keep the same legal regime. In this respects, government decisions will be issued for each individual takeover”, the press release states.

The debts taken over by AAAS will be removed from the ANAF records and implicitly, from the budget accounting, states the cited source.

At the same time, for the existing disputes and the procedures regulated by Law 85/2014, AAAS takes over all the rights and obligations of ANAF, and the previously completed documents remain valid.

ANAF will notify the debtors about the takeover of the debts by AAAS.