Ionut Ciubotaru, OMV Petrom: “Romania lacks EPC companies, serious companies that can build projects for the energy transition”

“OMV Petrom is the largest integrated energy company in the region and we try to take this role seriously and want to be the company that leads the energy transition in this region.

According to our strategy, we act on several levels, from renewables to hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, biofuel, alternative mobility, etc.

In June we made an update of our strategy, and I am glad that we can say that we are in line with what we set out to do in 2021.

In the area of ​​renewables, we aimed for 1 GW of installed power in 2021, and currently our portfolio is around 2.5 GW. We are trying to diversify our portfolio based on solar energy, wind energy, all storage technologies,” Ionut Ciubotaru, Vice President Business Development Gas & Power division, OMV Petrom said during Green Energy Conference organized by The Diplomat-Bucharest.

“We are trying to overcome the challenges that we all face, both from the perspective of the availability of technologies and from the perspective of the availability of resources. Romania lacks EPC companies, serious companies that can build projects, whether they are in the photovoltaic/wind energy area or in other fields related to the energy transition.

Financing is another element that poses challenges, and we try to find solutions together with financial institutions so as to ensure the success of the projects.

We collaborate with our partners and suppliers and try to bring as much technology as possible to Romania, to bring new projects to Romania, which will enhance both our results and ease the energy transition.

Our country has a special potential with natural gas that we can use. Natural gas, in addition to its dimension of energy security and geopolitical security, also has the quality of a transition element. We want to ensure the energy transition, and we also rely a lot on natural gas from a technological, financial point of view, from the point of view of the maturity of the available technologies.”