Foreign Policy > Romania

Can Romania Lead the Way Out of the EU's Green Nightmare?

For Brussels’ net-zero ideologues, it is deeply inconvenient that people are beginning to focus on reality.

Thomas Kolbe | June 6, 2026

The European Union is widely seen as an energy policy wasteland. The entire EU? Not quite -- in Romania, a massive new gas field will enter production within months. And in the face of Europe’s energy crisis, Brussels’ moral guardians remain conspicuously silent.

In Romania, one of Europe’s largest gas projects is currently taking shape. Located around 160 kilometers off the Romanian coast in the Black Sea, the Neptun Deep gas field is expected to hold reserves of approximately 100 billion cubic meters. A joint venture between OMV Petrom (majority-owned by Austria’s OMV AG) and Romania’s state-controlled Romgaz is developing the project, with both partners holding equal 50 percent stakes. The vast gas reserves have been known since 1989, but remained untapped for decades due to political instability and lack of investment security.

In recent years, the increasingly hostile political climate within the EU -- effectively branding fossil fuels as a moral evil -- has further delayed development. Yet Brussels ultimately failed to stop the project. Faced with Europe’s energy shortages, one suspects that officials may now be quietly relieved. While Neptun Deep will not solve all structural problems, it could serve as a model for countries seeking to break free from ideological constraints: Europe is still capable of executing large-scale projects -- and the world........

© American Thinker