What stage is the Neptun Deep project at now?

Petrom officials said the Neptun project is on time and on budget, and provided some details about the current status of Romania’s largest energy project to date.

“The project is progressing according to schedule and is also on budget and without any occupational safety incidents. We are well advanced with the works on the Tuzla gas treatment plant side. The underpass at the Tuzla beach is completed. The microtunnel is practically in position to be able to pull the submarine pipelines through it,” said Cristian Hubati, a member of the Petrom Board of Directors responsible for exploration and production.

Four of the ten wells have been drilled, and construction of the extraction platform, a contract awarded to Saipem, is also progressing.

According to Hubati, the platform and its legs are under construction – the platform in Indonesia, and the legs in Italy. Also, the umbilical cables, the ones that transmit signals to the wells, are being built in Scotland and are waiting to be lifted by the contractor Saipem. And everything that concerns the submarine pipeline part is largely completed and is already in Constanta.

“This year we are starting the installation of the pipelines, the completion of the measuring station, the transportation and installation of the pipeline legs and the platform legs and the production platform. Also, a very important thing, we have completed the drilling in the Pescăruș area. We are currently in Domino, ready to drill,” the member of the OMV Petrom Board of Directors detailed.

Although they were asked, company officials did not say more precisely when in 2027 we will see the first gas from Neptin Deep.

The huge investments in this project could force Petrom to borrow

With the 4 billion euros that must be invested for the 100 billion cubic meters of gas to reach the national grid next year, Neptun Deep, Romania’s largest energy project, is also very expensive for Romgaz and Petrom.

Petrom invested a total of 7.8 billion lei in 2025 – most of the amount for Neptun, and this year the amount will reach 9.2 billion. However, after last year’s investments, the company’s cash position weakened, dropping to 7 billion lei, and this could force Petrom, for the first time, to resort to bank loans for investments – the company has been financed only from operations so far.

″Given that this year we will have record investments, but also significant dividends, as we announced, our cash position will be reduced absolutely significantly, so we are in discussions with banks and will continue to analyze various loans, especially in the area of ​​renewable projects, but also others, in order to be able to support this high level of investments,″ said OMV Petrom’s CFO, Alina Popa.