IN THE CONTEXT OF THE FINDING OF THE GAS DEPOSITS IN THE BLACK SEA The failure of the secondary offer of Petrom is in fact a major success

• Băsescu: "At the present time, we won't sell the 10% stake in Petrom; we were lucky that we didn't sell in 2011"

• Romania is heavily courted to sell its minority stake in Petrom, according to the statements of Remus Vulpescu, the former head of the OPSPI

The gas reserves found in the Black Sea, announced in the month of February, are a good reason for Romania not to want to sell its minority stake in "Petrom" (symbol: SNP), according to yesterday's statements made by president Traian Băsescu.

According to Traian Băsescu, the failure of the secondary public offer of "Petrom" (ed. note: for the sale of 9.84% of SNP), in the summer of 2011, actually represents a blessing in disguise.

Yesterday, at the meeting with the CEO of OMV, Gerhard Roiss: "Romania will become an important player on the energy market in the next 10 years, if we get lucky with the Black Sea. At any rate, I have followed the developments. Honestly, I am extremely pleased with what is happening and I think that by now everyone has understood that we won't sell that 10% stake in Petrom. We were lucky we didn't sell that 10% last year".

As a matter of fact, the Romania is being heavily "courted" lately, in order to get it to sell the minority stake in "Petrom".

Remus Vulpescu, the former head of the OPSPI, said, in a comprehensive interview, that over the last three months has opposed three times the sale of the minority stake the Romanian state holds in "Petrom".

In 2011, the Boc Government tried unsuccessfully to sell a stake of 9.84% in Petrom, owned by the Romanian state, but got a lower price than the one it expected, and thus abandoned the transaction. On July 26th, 2011, Băsescu was saying that not being able to sell that 9.84% stake was a failure, but that the decision not to sell below the asking price was a political one, a signal that Romania is not for sale at a "scrap price".

• Gerhard Roiss: The development of the energy industry, a opportunity for the future of youth

Gerhard Roiss yesterday responded to president Băsescu that the development of the Romanian energy industry represents an important chance for the future, and the head of the state approved that statement.

The extraction of natural gas in the Black Sea is expected to begin at the end of the decade, and the exploitation of the deposit, which is estimated for a period of 10 years, could ensure Romania's energy independence when it comes to natural gas, the CEO of OMV Petrom, Mariana Gheorghe, recently said.