Romania will not exploit any shale gas in the next five years, says PM

Newsroom 25/04/2014 | 16:12

Although the shale gas sector is its early stages in Romania, with US oil major Chevron having started the exploration of some shale gas deposits, Prime Minister Victor Ponta said the country has to put in place a modern legislation on shale gas before approving any exploitation by the end of this decade.

The PM said that Romania will not exploit “not even a cubic meter of shale gas” in the next five years.

“Secondly I am looking on Europe’s map and almost all our neighbors – except Bulgaria, which probably made a political decision, not necessarily technical – granted licenses for the exploration of shale gas,” said PM Thursday at the public radio station Radio Romania Actualitati, quoted by Agerpres newswire.

The PM further went to say that Romania has to consider the exploitation of all energy resources, be it offshore gas or shale, to secure the energy independence of Romania and neighboring Republic of Moldova from Russia.

PM Ponta said that Russia’s Gazprom is the sole gas importer for Romania in the region.