After 14 years of stagnation, the process of concessioning offshore and onshore perimeters through the famous and long-delayed Round XI of the former National Agency for Mineral Resources (ANRM) should be resumed urgently, especially in light of the new geopolitical game in the Black Sea, investors present at the Romanian International Energy Conference 2025, an event organized by the Energy Employers’ Federation (FPE, former FPPG), told Energynomics.
“This is one of the biggest problems we face: the auctioning of the perimeters in Round XI has been repeatedly delayed for 14 years,” one of the investors tells us.
“There has been no auction for any major concession for 14 years, and there are investment opportunities, but there are no more concessions. I can say that it is a major loss of opportunity,” said another major investor.
The National Agency for Mineral Resources announced in the spring of 2019 that it would auction, after a 10-year delay, 22 onshore and 6 offshore perimeters, each of 1,000 km2. However, the auction did not take place, despite subsequent announcements (including in the spring of 2022) that this would happen “soon”.
In the meantime, the current government decided to abolish the ANRM, and to create, in the spring of this year, the National Regulatory Authority for Mining, Petroleum and Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide (ANRMPSG).
