PRESS RELEASE

Prime Minister Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă's meeting with representatives of the Black Sea Oil & Gas SA

Prime Minister Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă met at Victoria Palace with Eric Faillnet, Director at The Carlyle International Energy Partners Group, main shareholder of Black Sea Oil&Gas company.

On this occasion, Prime Minister hailed the interest of investors in kicking off the Black Sea gas exploitation, by developing the Midia Project which will ensure as of this year, ten percent of the necessary national output.

"To Romanians, attaining independence from Russian gas is an essential objective. The Government encourages energy investments, and our country is among the European states that can manage to a good extent the amount of natural gas for domestic consumption. The new offshore law which I initiated at the level of the ruling coalition and which will be soon adopted, creates a predictable and stable framework for investors. Ensuring a balance between state and the private sector interests, Romania has the opportunity to become even an exporter in the region, after the development of Black Sea gas exploitations", stated Prime Minister Ciucă.

The Black Sea Oil&Gas representatives announced that the Midia project is ready to start in June, after the last tests are performed, with an anual delivery capacity of a billion cubic meters.