The Black Sea was rented out for five dollars per square kilometre. Elsewhere in the news, an officer working for the general Anti-Corruption Authority was caught stealing two car light bulbs. Last but not least, the World Bank teaches Romania how to gain a potential one billion euros using the Roma minority.
The Black Sea was rented out for five dollars per square kilometre, Romania Libera reads, raising the issue of illegal aspects contained in contracts sealed by the Romanian Mineral Resources Agency. Romania has rented Black Sea areas rich in oil for ridiculous prices. The state allowed these areas to be used for free at some stage.
According to a recently declassified document, the Accounts Court asked the Government to mandate Mineral Resources National Agency (ANRM) to reassess the Additional Act 11, which transforms the exploitation and sharing contract with Sterling Resources Ltd. into a concession contract for exploitation, development and oil exploitation. This allows Sterling to stop sharing the profit with the Romanian state, paying instead an obligation between 3.5 and 13.5%.
The Sterling scandal started in February 2009. Romania had just won the case against Ukraine and was thus given more continental platform around the Serpents Island. It was revealed that the region rich in hydrocarbon had been leased in advanced. Recent investigations led the Romanian Accounts Court to ask the Government to modify the Oil Law and its norms. Rompetrols SA, the company to represent Romania, sealed the first contract in the Black Sea in 1992, settling for 5 dollars/sqm for exploitation and sharing the production. The money went to Rompetrol SA.
A financial obligation would have sent the money straight to the state's budget. The law allowed having concession contracts, excluding exploitation. Plus, the constitution entail
