The total contract volume represents about 1.5% of Germany’s gas imports in 2024 and would be the first deal underpinning the long-awaited deepwater project, more than a decade after gas was first discovered in Romania’s section of the Black Sea.

Neptun Deep, which is expected to start producing in 2027, holds an estimated 100 billion cubic meters (bcm) of recoverable gas, making it one of the EU’s most significant natural gas deposits.

Once it comes online, Romania will become the EU’s largest gas producer and a net gas exporter for the first time.