This move seeks to strengthen European energy security amid reduced reliance on Russian gas. Credit: Photofex_AUT/Shutterstock.

Austrian oil and gas company OMV has finalised an agreement to supply natural gas from its Neptun Deep project in the Black Sea to German energy company Uniper, starting in 2027, reported Reuters, citing three people familiar with the matter.

This strategic move is aimed at bolstering European energy security in the wake of reduced reliance on Russian gas imports.

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The five-year contract will provide Uniper with 15 terawatt-hours (TWh) of gas per annum from the Neptun Deep project, which has not been publicly announced until now.

This development follows Russia’s cessation of gas deliveries via Ukraine and the EU’s efforts to diminish energy purchases from Russia due to the conflict in Ukraine.

In December 2024, OMV terminated its long-standing natural gas supply contract with Russia’s Gazprom Export, which was originally set to run until 2040.

Since 16 November 2024, Gazprom Export has stopped supplying gas to OMV. Prior to this, OMV received around 7,400 megawatt-hours per hour, equating to approximately 5TWh per month, at the Austria-Slovakia border.

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The Neptun Deep project contract volume represents around 1.5% of Germany’s gas imports in 2024 and is the first to support the project, which has been in the pipeline since the discovery of gas in Romania’s Black Sea sector more than a decade ago.

With an estimated 100 billion cubic metres (bcm) of recoverable gas, Neptun Deep is one of the EU’s substantial natural gas reserves.

Romania is set to become the EU’s largest gas producer and a net exporter for the first time when production commences.

OMV Petrom, with a majority stake owned by OMV and 20.7% owned by Romania, discovered between 42 and 84bcm of gas in the Black Sea in 2012.

The Neptun Deep project, jointly owned by OMV Petrom and state-owned Romgaz in a 50:50 partnership, received approval in 2023.

The project’s production is expected to peak at around 8bcm annually for ten years, nearly doubling Romania’s gas output. Although the gas will be sold separately by the producers, Romanian law grants the government pre-emptive rights to the project’s gas.

The Transocean Barents drilling unit arrived in Constanța for Neptun Deep in November 2024, with drilling scheduled to begin in 2025.

Further exploration in Romania’s Black Sea region, estimated to hold 200bcm of reserves, could significantly contribute to diversifying the region’s gas supply.