A secret kept until now.
The fact that the Romanian state is negotiating access to Kazakh uranium in return for the payment of the debt of "Rompetrol". This is the kind of information that isn"t usually made public as long as the negotiations are under way, to avoid outside influence on the latter. Romania needs uranium for the new plants in Cernavodă, and the Kazakhs need a rescheduling of the debt of Rompetrol, which it has incurred before the Kazakhs acquired Petromidia. One of the greatest deals of the last years is being negotiated on the Astana - Cernavodă - Năvodari route. The Kazakh plan, which was first discussed in March, in Astana, has the benefit of laying the foundation for a long term collaboration in the energy sector, with a significant influence on the Romanian economy, but with the drawback that Romanian would not receive 600 million dollars in a lump sum payment, which is the amount that Rompetrol needs to pay for its bonds.
For now, negotiations are intense. The Romanian state doesn"t want to become a shareholder of the Rompetrol-Petromidia refinery again in exchange for part of the company"s debt. Not even as a minority shareholder. Which means the Kazakh plan to reschedule the payment of the debt in exchange for uranium concessions has the odds in its favor.
* The authorities in Astana have made the following proposal to president Băsescu: Romania would reschedule the payment of Rompetrol"s debt by another five years, in exchange for Kazakhstan giving us facilities for the exploitation of uranium
* It is precisely five years from now that the new units from the Cernavodă nuclear plant are supposed to come online, fueled by Kazakh uranium
* For now, negotiations are under way, with the final deadline being set for September
The Romanian delegation, led by president Traian Băsescu, was received in March,
