President Klaus Iohannis stated on Friday that Romania is an important producer of hydrocarbures in Europe at this moment and that our country intends to further strengthen this role by further developing the gas reserves in the Black Sea, according to Agerpres.

„Natural gas remains a critical complementary element in supporting the decarbonisation process. Within the European Union, Romania has been actively advocating for the inclusion of natural gas and nuclear energy in the green taxonomy, as essential technologies in the transition process to a carbon-free economy. We thus see a predictable and long-term use of natural gas in the European Union’s economy. Romania is currently a significant producer of hydrocarbons in Europe, a role that we intend to enhance with the gas reserves already discovered in the Black Sea. Moreover, additional substantial volumes will become available in 2026-2027. Romania will be able to contribute further to the energy security and resilience in Europe,” said Iohannis, at the ministerial meeting of the Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor, which he opened alongside his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev.

He reiterated Romania’s strong engagement in promoting energy cooperation in the region, both through capitalizing on available energy production potential and on cross-border energy transport infrastructure. An important example in this respect is the Agreement on Strategic Partnership in the field of green energy development and transmission between the Governments of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania, and Hungary, signed during the visit of President Aliyev to Bucharest, on 17 December 2022.

„Through this Agreement, we will develop a Black Sea Green Electricity submarine cable, providing valuable contributions to a stronger European energy security. This Strategic Partnership is also in line with the REPowerEU plan and will strengthen economic growth, security, resilience and climate action for Europe and for our partners,” said Iohannis.

According to him, energy cooperation between the European Union and its member states, on one hand, and Azerbaijan, on the other hand, has a strategic priority.

More than that, this cooperation between Azerbaijan and the European Union is required by the logic of the market.

The head of state reiterated Romania’s solid and continuous commitment to regional cooperation „as the way to finding sustainable solutions to common challenges, in particular for our common energy security.”

Participating in the ministerial meeting of the Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor were also the European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, and officials from several country, such as Azerbaijan, Turkey, Italy, UK, Georgia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Ukraine, Croatia.

Agerpres