Vidu quits Rompetrol over Black Sea gas scandal

Vidu recently resigned as administrator of Rompetrol Well Services company, part of the Rompetrol energy group, led by one of Romania’s wealthiest businesspeople, Dinu Patriciu.

His resignation comes amid a scandal that broke out on Tuesday, after the Hague-based International Court of Justice ruled in favor of Romania in a dispute with Ukraine regarding the maritime perimeter around the Serpents’ Island, which has estimated reserves of 100 billion cubic meters of gas and 10 million tons of oil.

Hours after the ruling, comments surfaced on the lease to Canadian Sterling Resources energy group of two perimeters, Midia and Pelican, in connection with the viability and size of the lease. The scandal resulted in the sacking of the President of the National Agency for Mineral Resources (ANRM), Bogdan Gabudeanu, and Prime Minister Emil Boc ordered that legal proceedings be initiated to make public the annex to the Government Ordinance regarding the approval contained therein in connection with the contract for the Pelican and Midia perimeters.

The lease of the two areas was made through Midia Resources, led by Stephen Birrell, who is also Vice President of Sterling Resources Ltd.

“Yesterday [Ed. n. Wednesday], after all this scandal, I called Rompetrol and told them that I am resigning,” Vidu said in an exclusive interview for Business Standard. He added that there is no conflict of interest in his working for both Rompetrol and Sterling, as Rompetrol Well Services is the only company in Romania that could provide quality services at a competitive price for the drilling wells used by Sterling.

Vidu knows well the perimeters leased by Sterling in the Black Sea, but declined to provide details on the Canadian company’s local business. However, he said that he worked for Rompetrol prior to 1978 in several countries, when the company was owned by the state, and that he was General Manager of the local subsidiary of the Enterprise Oil company between 1993 and 1998, which had leased the same perimeters at the time that are currently leased to Sterling.

He added that he stepped down to bring an end to the scandal generated by the association of his double positions. Rompetrol, controlled by state-owned Kazakh KazMunaiGas oil and gas group, confirmed the resignation.

In a press release, Rompetrol said that speculations and insinuations regarding its involvement in the Black Sea perimeters are unjustified. “We are witness to political manipulation, with conspiracy theories that aim to discredit me and Rompetrol group’s operations and employees,” the company’s CEO, Dinu Patriciu, said. He is a member of the Liberal Party (PNL), and the Government Ordinance relating to the lease of the perimeters was signed at a time when Romania was headed by a Liberal government.