Black Sea Oil & Gas SA (BSOG) and its shareholders, global investment firm Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), announced the launch of BSOG Energy SRL, a new company focused on developing biogas production plants across Romania. With this new business, BSOG “intends to play a significant role in the European energy transition and accelerate the development of the Romanian renewable energy sector.”
Each site to be developed by the new Bucharest-based company BSOG Energy is expected to have a capacity of 15MW minimum.
Mark Beacom, BSOG CEO and Managing Director of BSOG Energy, said: “In partnership with our shareholders Carlyle and EBRD, the formation of BSOG Energy expands our platform in Romania with a new energy company focusing on green energy development. Biogas plays an important role in the energy transition, eliminating the significant pollution burden of organic waste discharge on lands and land fill sites, as well providing substantial greenhouse gas emission reductions by converting naturally occurring methane into a useable, domestically produced fuel.”
He added: “Romania has significant Biogas potential but few developments to date. By bringing in capital, feedstock, design, offtake, and green credit expertise combined with BSOG’s ability to execute in Romania, we believe that BSOG Energy is uniquely positioned to create a strong and scalable platform to deliver biogas for the region. A strong Romanian Biogas industry has the potential to increase domestic production of gas with zero carbon emissions, upgrade agricultural waste into new income streams for the agricultural sector, and create new jobs in the country.”
Biogas is produced from agricultural and other organic waste, such as manure, straw, and food waste. The net carbon dioxide emissions generated are significantly lower, or in some cases negative, when compared to fossil methane.
According to BSOG, demand for biogas is forecast to increase by 20% per annum this decade, driven by supportive European Union policies and incentive structures. Given the size of its agricultural sector, Romania has substantial feedstocks of agricultural waste that remain underutilized and thus has the potential to become a biogas leader in Europe.
BSOG, owned by Carlyle and the EBRD, is a Romania-based independent energy company that, as a 70% owner and the operator, developed the Midia Gas Development (MGD) project, the first offshore gas development in the Romanian Black Sea in over 30 years.
irina.marica@romania-insider.com
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