Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the OMV Petrom's Earnings Call. Today's presentation will last around 30 minutes and will be recorded. By now, you should have received the presentation by email. The slides and the speech are also available online on www.omvpetrom.com. In the investors' section, these also include the cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements. Now, let me hand over to Simona Cruțu, Manager of the Investor Relations and Stakeholder Engagement Department, who will moderate the event.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us. We'll have a presentation followed by a Q&A session. Christina Verchere, Chief Executive Officer, will provide the key highlights about the 2030 strategy execution, the macroeconomic and regulatory environment, and the performance of our business segment. Alina Popa, Chief Financial Officer, will give you more details on our financial performance and the brief outlook. Afterwards, all Executive Board members will be available to answer your questions. We recommend you to register for the Q&A session during the presentation by pressing star 11 on your telephone keypad. You can also register during the Q&A session itself. I'm now handing over to Christina.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and a warm welcome to our conference call that will take you through our performance in the fourth quarter of 2024. Let me first draw your attention to our legal disclaimer, which you can read in detail on slide two. Ladies and gentlemen, during our Capital Markets Day held in June 2024, we presented an update on our Strategy 2030, the outcome of which will see OMV Petrom leading the energy transition in Southeast Europe. The strategy presented in December 2021 remains robust, with some adjustments made to reflect the significant macro changes we've experienced so far. These include a more rapid build-out in renewables, more ambitious targets in e-mobility, slower pace in biofuel, and higher dividend distribution.
With regards to our flagship project, Neptun Deep, the progress achieved during 2024 was exceptional, with all major execution contracts awarded and 90% of the execution budget committed. Construction work started for the platform topsides in Indonesia, for the jackets in Italy, the fabrication of the field support vessel hull in Poland, as well as the onshore natural gas metering station in Romania. Furthermore, in November 2024, the Transocean Barents mobile offshore drilling unit arrived in Romania. As a result of these significant milestones, we are on track to commence drilling in 2025, and first gas is expected during 2027. In light of this progress in the fourth quarter, we started gas marketing activity, another important step in the project.
In offshore Bulgaria, in the Han Asparuh block adjacent to the Neptun Deep block, we signed the transfer of a 50% interest in the license to NewMed Energy while maintaining our role as operator. The closing of this transaction is expected to take place in the first half of 2025 after fulfillment of several commercial conditions and approval of the relevant Bulgarian authorities. We aim to start drilling and exploration well this year. Regarding our strategic pillar, transition to low and zero carbon, we made significant progress on many projects, and particularly in renewable power. In June, we increased our 2030 target for renewable power to 2.5 gigawatts of solar and wind, including partnerships. We have achieved significant progress in building up a strong portfolio of renewable projects in different phases of implementation, both organic and via acquisition.
In 2024, several acquisitions were completed, bringing approximately 1.9 gigawatts of renewable projects into our portfolio. Firstly, we completed three transactions with Renovatio of around 950 megawatts of wind and 200 megawatts of solar projects. We also closed the transaction with Jantzen Renewables for the acquisition of three photovoltaic projects in Romania, totaling approximately 710 megawatts of photovoltaic capacity after the ready-to-build stage has been attained. Therefore, by the end of 2024, we now have more than 2.4 gigawatts of renewable power projects, including partnerships, secured into our portfolio. This includes our existing partnership with Complexul Energetic Oltenia, with 450 megawatts of capacity, and our Ișalnița project with approximately 85 megawatts of capacity, for which we have awarded the EPCC contract and started the construction phase last year.
In the area of e-mobility, our electric vehicle charging point network increased from 270 units at the end of 2023 to around 900 at the end of 2024, with a significant boost coming from the acquisition of Renovatio's network. By 2030, our network of EV charging points is targeted to reach more than 5,000, while for 2025, we plan to reach more than 1,500. Another low-carbon activity in our 2030 strategic portfolio is biofuel, which contributes to the decarbonization of the transportation sector. We are investing approximately EUR 750 million at Petrobrazi to become the first major producer of biofuels in Southeast Europe by 2030. In June, we took the final investment decision for a new SAF HVO plant in our Petrobrazi refinery.
Around 80% of the seed stock for the first eight years has already been secured, including through the announced contract with Expur and through the acquisition of a stake in Respiră Verde, the largest used cooking oil collection company in Romania. We have also pursued our green hydrogen path in Petrobrazi by taking the final investment decision for two electrolyzers with a total capacity of 55 megawatts and by leveraging EU non-reimbursable funds available through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, securing up to EUR 50 million of financing from the total investment. This will cover around 70% of the SAF HVO unit's green hydrogen needs.
We are also delivering on our commitment to offer attractive shareholder returns. In addition to our competitive growth in base dividend per share, in June, we provided additional guidance for yearly allocation to dividends, aimed to be between 40% and 70% of operating cash flow.
In 2024, our strong performance enabled us to pay EUR 4.4 billion in dividends to our shareholders. The market has also clearly recognized our performance and strategic progress in 2024 by virtue of a 23% increase in our share price over the year, leading to a total shareholder return of 36%. For the year 2024, we propose a base dividend per share of RON 0.0444 , up 7.5% year-on-year, at the middle of the 5% to 10% year-on-year increase guidance. Moreover, around the middle of this year, the executive board will also decide if a special dividend per share is to be proposed. Alina will provide more detail. On HSSE, the total recoverable injury rate for 2024 was 0.42. Moreover, we continue our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas intensity with projects in all three business segments.
Based on our preliminary data, GHG intensity decreased in 2024, reaching a level of 12% lower compared to 2019 and reflecting our focus to reduce carbon emissions. On slide four, we present the key highlights for the fourth quarter. Operational performance was strong in the fourth quarter. However, the context of weaker commodity prices and margins, and also the regulatory environment, impact our financial performance, only partially offset by integration benefits. At EUR 1 billion, our fourth quarter clean CCS operating result was 57% lower year-on-year. Our operating cash flow in the fourth quarter of 2024 declined by 76% year-on-year and reached RON 0.5 billion. The clean CCS return on average capital employed reached 15.4 percentage points. I will go into details on each business division later in this presentation.
However, I would like to point out that our hydrocarbon production in 2024 was above plan, marking the lowest decline in the past seven years. In addition, the high availability of the Petrobrazi refinery and our rigorous cost discipline contributed also to our results. Now, let's just take a look at the evolution of commodity prices in the fourth quarter of 2024. Brent price remained under pressure in the fourth quarter of 2024. The major drivers, which reduced oil prices earlier in 2024, remained in place, including the broader concerns over softening oil demand and the corresponding need for OPEC+ in December to hold to its current policy and postpone the gradual return of supply for a third time. Brent averaged $75 per barrel in the fourth quarter, a decrease of 7% quarter on quarter and 11% year-on-year.
OMV Petrom's refining indicator margin reached $7.39 per barrel in the fourth quarter, 32% lower year-on-year, mainly due to lower middle distillate crack spread. European spot gas prices increased during the quarter, driven by a combination of factors, including uncertainty over Russian pipeline supplies across Ukraine and rapid drawdowns in natural gas inventories. The latter was due to a combination of cold weather and much lower renewable power output. At an average of EUR 44 per megawatt hour, the spot price was up by 10% year-on-year and up 19% quarter on quarter. Gas prices on the Romanian centralized market also increased, with day-ahead prices around EUR 40 per megawatt hour, 29% higher quarter on quarter and 5% higher year-on-year. Baseload electricity prices in Romania increased by 38% year-on-year and 5% quarter on quarter to an average of EUR 33 per megawatt hour.
The average CO2 price was 13% down year-on-year to EUR 66 per TON of CO2, reflecting sluggish industrial demand and was broadly flat quarter on quarter. Looking now at the Romanian macroeconomic environment, the latest available data shows that in the first nine months of 2024, GDP slightly increased by 0.9% year-on-year. In November, the European Commission reduced its projected GDP growth for 2024 for Romania from 3.3% to 1.4%, and for 2025, Romanian GDP is now forecast to grow by 2.5%, reduced from the previous 3.1%. Though the expectations are softening, Romania remains above the EU average estimates of 0.9% in 2024 and 1.5% in 2025.
The consumer price index for the month of December 2024 versus December 2023 was 5.1%, with spikes in January and February 2024, followed by a downward trend until the end of the third quarter and then resuming growth mainly in November and December 2024.
Romania's rating was maintained at investment grade by the major rating agencies, yet recently two agencies revised their outlook from stable to negative. This downgrade was motivated by the high budget deficit as well as weaker growth outlook. Looking at the Romanian energy sector in the fourth quarter of 2024, demand based on our internal estimates increased for all our products. Demand for retail fuel slightly increased by around 2% year-on-year from the effects of higher disposable income. Commercial demand was down by 5% year-on-year, coming mostly from diesel, while jet and bitumen continued to increase. Gas demand increased by around 8% year-on-year, with higher offtake from end users in the distribution system due to colder weather. Power demand was 4% higher year-on-year, while domestic production significantly decreased by 10% year-on-year.
Power demand was 4% higher year-on-year, while domestic production significantly decreased by 10%, making Romania a net importer of power in the fourth quarter. The contribution of solar source power production to overall generation mix increased significantly year-on-year. Nuclear was broadly flat, while hydro, wind, coal, and gas-to-power sources decreased year-on-year. Looking at demand for our products in 2024 compared to the pre-COVID times, the picture is mixed. Retail fuel demand, which was affected during the COVID crisis in 2020, is now 17% higher than in 2019, reflecting the higher motorization index in Romania and increased disposable income. The demand for gas and power, on the other hand, reached record lows after the start of the war in Ukraine and in 2024 was still well below the 2019 level, showing that consumers were affected by the high volatility in prices over the period.
We expect this trend to reverse by 2030, supported by increasing electrification and mobility in the case of power and by demand for new investments in gas-to-power projects and as a balance in source of renewables in the case of gas. At the end of December 2024, the government issued a new ordinance, including several fiscal measures aimed to reduce the budget deficit. A 1% tax on the value of assets classified as construction that are not subject to building tax was introduced as of the 1st of January 2025. We expect the government decision to be published, which should include clarifications regarding the scope and the tax base. The preliminary estimated impact in 2025 on OMV Petrom is a mid-double-digit million EUR. The 0.5% tax on turnover was introduced in 2024 for two years. Hence, it is applicable also in 2025.
We maintain our estimate on the impact from the tax to be below EUR 250 million in 2025. The gas and power sector in Romania remains highly regulated, with more than half of OMV Petrom's gas and power sales portfolio subject to some form of regulation or taxation. Ordinance 32, in effect since April 2024, continues to negatively impact our results, especially on the power side, mainly due to the non-recoverability of CO2 costs for quantities sold through the centralized power market mechanism applicable until the end of 2024. Currently, the power market has an increased level of taxation, low levels of liquidity, and imports have pushed to the upper limit, all challenging the proper functioning of the energy market in Romania.
Although the ordinance is due to expire at the end of March 2025, there are currently public discussions regarding the extension of the applicability of the regulated gas and power framework in 2025. We reiterate our belief that free market principles are fundamental for investment and that interventions should be temporary in nature. Let me now move to the performance of our divisions, starting with exploration and production. Clean operating results in exploration and production decreased by 41% year-on-year to EUR 0.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024, driven by lower oil prices and sales volumes, as well as higher negative impact from gas taxation and depreciation, partly compensated by higher gas prices and lower production costs. Hydrocarbon production in the fourth quarter came in better than planned, decreasing by only 3% year-on-year on good contribution from workover jobs and new wells, partly compensating natural decline.
Moreover, production was flat quarter on quarter, with an increase of 3% in gas, offset by a similar decrease in oil. Production cost per barrel of oil equivalent improved year-on-year by 5% to $16.93, reflecting lower costs for energy, materials, and services, and favorable foreign exchange, partly offset by lower volumes available for sale. For the full year 2025, we expect Brent oil price to be around $75 per barrel. We expect to produce around 104,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, considering no divestments. The inflationary pressure on our costs is expected to persist, and therefore we see the production cost at around $16 per barrel of oil equivalent. CapEx in E&P is estimated to be around RON 5.8 billion. Alina will provide more details on this later.
In refining and marketing, the clean CCS operating result decreased by 41% year-on-year to EUR 0.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024, mainly due to lower refining and sales channel margins. These were partially offset by the excellent refining utilization rate of 98%. Retail sales increased 2% year-on-year, reflecting higher demand. However, total refined product sales volumes decreased by 5% year-on-year, reflecting lower exports. We started 2025 with a refining margin of around $6 per barrel in January, and for the full year 2025, we estimate the indicator refining margin to range between $7-$8 per barrel, lower compared to the previous year. The refinery utilization rate is estimated to be between 90%-95% due to a 20-day tie-in shutdown in the second quarter. We estimate demand for retail fuel products in Romania to be slightly above 2024.
For total refined product sales, we see a stable year-on-year performance with slightly higher retail fuel sales following demand. In gas and power, we recorded lower results in both the gas and power business lines, leading to a loss of EUR 76 million severely impacted by regulatory changes and market development. In the gas business, we had good operational performance with higher sales volumes year-on-year. However, a lower contribution was achieved year-on-year, reflecting weaker realized gas sales margins in the context of lower prices for deliveries in the quarter. The power business was significantly affected by the changes in legislation introduced starting April 2024 and by higher gas costs in the quarter. We achieved good results from the balancing ancillary services markets as well as from transactions outside Romania, the latter being lower year-on-year.
The Brazi Power Plant generated 1.3 terawatt-hours in the fourth quarter, covering 10% of Romania's generation mix. For the full year 2025, our total gas sales volumes are envisaged to decrease, mainly on lower supply both from equity and third parties. The net electrical output is expected to be stable year-on-year. Please let me hand over now to Alina for more details on the financial results of the fourth quarter of 2024.
Thank you, Christina, and good afternoon also from my side. I will continue our presentation with slide 12, starting with some highlights on the income statement and also presenting key developments in our cash flow statement. Group clean CCS operating result decreased 57% year-on-year to EUR 1 billion, with lower results in all business segments.
The clean consolidation line was EUR 90 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, mainly as a result of the gas volumes extracted from storage. For the fourth quarter of 2024, we recorded inventory holding losses of EUR 6 million compared with EUR 32 million of losses in the fourth quarter of 2023. We also recorded net special charges of EUR 631 million, mainly related to impairments in EMP segment and to much lower extent in R&M segment, partially offset by net temporary gains from forward contracts in gas and power segment. The impairments booked in EMP were related to some producing oil and gas assets being driven by the general increase in the operating costs in the context of high inflationary pressures. The special items in R&M were mainly in relation to the impairment of some retail assets.
For comparison, in the fourth quarter of 2023, we recorded net special charges of EUR 250 million, mainly driven by the temporary net effects from power forward contracts. In the fourth quarter of 2024, the net income attributable to stockholders decreased by 82% year-on-year to EUR 263 million. The 0.5% tax on revenue introduced in 2024 amounted to around EUR 52 million, mostly booked in the refining and marketing segment. With regards to our cash flow statement in the fourth quarter of 2024, the cash generated from operating activity before net working capital movements was 47% lower year-on-year at EUR 1.2 billion. Working capital changes led to a cash outflow of EUR 734 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to EUR 279 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The higher cash outflows reflect higher receivables due to increased gas production, also excise paid in advance, as well as decrease in trade liabilities.
Consequently, the operating cash flow in the fourth quarter of 2024 amounted to EUR 0.5 billion compared to EUR 2 billion in the previous year. Our net payments for investing activities amounted to EUR 2.2 billion, an increase of 91% year-on-year. This mainly reflects a cash outflow for organic CapEx amounting to EUR 2.1 billion and a cash outflow for inorganic investments and loans amounting to EUR 0.1 billion, while investments in government bonds had a net positive impact of EUR 47 million.
The net cash position, including leases, decreased to EUR 8 billion at the end of 2024 versus EUR 12.6 billion at the end of 2023. Moving now to slide 13, total CapEx for 2024 was EUR 7.2 billion, 52% higher year-on-year and broadly in line with our guidance. 50% of this CapEx was spent on our strategic projects, mainly Neptun Deep and renewables, underpinning our strategic execution and our planned transformation for a lower carbon future.
In exploration and production, in addition to Neptun Deep project, which Christina covered earlier, we finalized the drilling of 39 new wells and sidetracks and performed more than 500 workover jobs. In refining and marketing, around EUR 1.6 billion was invested in major refinery projects such as the new aromatic complex, the sulfur ACCS treatment plant, and the new SAF/HVO unit. We also allocated investments to our retail operations, including for the acquisition of Renovatio's network of charging points and further expansion of our e-mobility business. In gas and power, we invested EUR 1 billion, mainly in strategic M&A activity of renewable power, sub-transactions with Renovatio and with Jantzen Renewables. For the full year 2025, assuming a predictable and competitive regulatory and fiscal environment, we plan on CapEx of around EUR 8 billion, more than 25% higher year-on-year.
We plan increased investments, mainly dedicated to Neptun Deep, as we start drilling in 2025, as well as to low and zero carbon projects mostly related to SAF/HVO, renewable power and EV charging points. Additionally, potential inorganic CapEx is estimated at up to EUR 0.6 billion, mainly in connection to the M&A transactions already closed in 2024. Moving now to slide 14, in June 2024, at our capital market day, we reinforced our intention to increase our base dividend per share by 5%-10% per annum, and as Christina already mentioned, we provided additional guidance for yearly allocation to dividends between 40% and 70% of operating cash flow. Based on 2024 preliminary results, we are now proposing a base dividend per share of EUR 0.0444, which represents an increase of 7.5% year-on-year at the middle of the 5%-10% range stated in the dividend guidance.
The proposed base dividend is subject to the approval of the statutory report and general meeting of shareholders, which will take place in April. The proposed base dividend of EUR 0.0444 per share represents a payout ratio of 42.8% of the Group's 2024 operating cash flow, above our 40% minimum threshold. In addition, we announced this morning that around the middle of 2025, the executive board will decide if a special dividend distribution is to be proposed. The potential proposal for distribution of special dividends will be subject to a future ordinary shareholder meeting of shareholders. We have a strong track record of proposing to our shareholders competitive dividend distributions. Our base dividend almost tripled in the last nine years, while the total dividend yield averaged around 10% per year.
To conclude our presentation today, let's take a look at the outlook for 2025, as well as our guidance for 2026-2027 on slide 15. We have presented already our expectations for the relevant indicators for 2025. As a result, this year, in the context of higher planned investments, we expect the free cash flow before dividends to be negative, decreasing further our net cash position as planned. Moving now to the 2026-2027 period, we estimate an average oil price of around $75 per barrel. As we expect production from Neptun Deep to start in 2027, our hydrocarbon production is estimated to be up to 130,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day on average in 2026-2027, before potential divestments.
We expect inflationary pressure on our costs to persist, and therefore, with support of our intensive efficiency program started, we see the production costs at around $16 per barrel of oil equivalent until Neptun Deep comes on stream. Considering the Neptun Deep volume in 2027, the average production cost for 2026-2027 is expected to decrease to around $13 per barrel of oil equivalent and closer to a $8 per barrel objective once there is a full year of Neptun production. In refining and marketing, we currently estimate an average refining margin of around $8 per barrel in 2026-2027. The refinery utilization rate is estimated to remain above 95% in 2026. In 2027, we plan the next major turnaround, resulting in an expected utilization rate of around 85% that year. CapEx is expected to be around EUR 8 billion in 2026-2027 on average.
As we continue the most intensive investment period in our company's history, we reiterate that investments require a predictable and competitive regulatory and fiscal environment. In 2026-2027, we expect on average a marginally positive free cash flow before dividends, driven by strong operational performance offset to a large extent by significantly higher investments. With this, we close our presentation, and thank you for your attention. We are now available for your questions.
Thank you, Alina. Let me remind you that if you want to ask a question, you need to press star one one on your telephone keypad. We kindly ask you to repeat three questions per participant. Once again, to ask a question, please press star one one. We'll pause for a moment to assemble the queue. We will now take our first question from Ioana Andrei from Alpha Bank Romania. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hello, and thank you for the presentation. I have a couple of questions. First, I would go with the impairment on ENP. Could you please give us more details regarding the impairment done in the last quarter, and what were the main assumptions that triggered it? Second, regarding OPEX per BOE, you mentioned a reduction to 13 by 2027. What are the drivers here to decline from 16 to 13, excluding Neptun Deep? Third, regarding the gas and power business, I do understand that what happens after the end of March is still uncertain from a regulatory point of view, at least. But how do you see things, and what to expect? Do you expect the RON 400 threshold for taxation to be maintained? Please give us some kind of guidance here. And if I may, just a clarification regarding taxation. The 1% tax on revenues is applicable from 2026.
Does it have an end period, or is it an ongoing tax? And what about the construction tax? This is just due for a limited time frame. Thank you. That's all from my side.
Thank you. Thank you for your questions. Maybe, Alina, maybe we'll take the impairment, but at the same time, I think there were clarifications and questions on the taxation side as well. And then we come back to you on the OpEx per barrel and CPS, and then our Frank's ability to assess the regulatory environment in Romania after March. Take that question.
Okay. I will start. So with regards to the impairment, end of 2024, we did an impairment test, which is a normal practice in accordance with IFRS. The outcome was that we had three cash-generating units, basically operating oil and gas assets in ENP, that ended up with impairment.
Main reason for this impairment is not linked to any change in price assumptions. It's coming from increasing cost. Despite all our efforts and efficiency measures that we have taken, we see increasing costs, of course. In some assets, more, in others, less. It's hard to have a linear result overall. From the overall perspective, I think what is important to have in mind, we talk about an impairment of EUR 600 million. This represents less than 3% of the net book value of our traditional E&P business, and it's related to three cash-generating units in oil and gas traditional E&P. With regards to, you had two questions around taxation, and I hope I understood them correctly. So it was a question around 1% turnover tax, which is a tax applicable for companies where profit tax does not reach 1% of the turnover.
That tax is applicable from 2026, and it doesn't have an end period to my knowledge. And with regards to construction tax, there are many questions often, as you asked some of them. So we have questions around applicability. We have questions around the taxation base. So there are many things which we need to clarify with authorities. The Ministry of Finance indicated that they will start consultation process soon. We will actively participate together with the association in this consultation process, and we hope to get more clarity because we indeed have lots of questions around applicability of such a tax. And of course, in such a process, we will advocate the need of a stable and predictable and competitive fiscal regime, especially where we have the highest investment in our history.
Thanks, Alina.
Yes. Thank you, Alina, for the question.
As you know, we are into a quite extensive program of cost optimization, which we are looking very ambitious to that. So we're looking on changes in the way in which we're operating, but as well, there are measures which are related with the portfolio optimization. That will drive basically the costs per barrel in that range. Thank you.
I will add to Christina's comment that the main driver for seeing this average is Neptun Deep. For seeing going to 13 is Neptun Deep. That comes in 2027.
Thank you. Frank?
I want to ask. So in terms of your question in the regulation for the tax, which is to support the energy transition fund, two things. One, there was a decision from the Constitutional Court in November saying that this tax is not in line with the legal system of Romania.
So we are now waiting for the notification from the Constitutional Court to clarify this. In case the legislation is valid till the end of March, as you mentioned, this year. So we don't expect an extension, and potentially even that's when the Constitutional Court will clarify that we will stop even before. But the end of March is our expectation at the moment.
Thank you. We will take our next question. The next question comes from the line of Tamás Pletser from Erste Group. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Yes. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. I'm basically curious about your view, how the new regulation would look like. When do you expect this to be in play or to be effective? Because I think the end of March date is rather unlikely that anything new would come.
How do you see this difference between the current prices for households and the market price? I mean, what kind of an increase would be necessary for the households to reach the same level as the market? And what is the obligation that you have to sell towards this group of clients? I mean, natural gas. Yeah. Thank you.
Okay. So thank you so much for your question. On the regulation, at the moment, there is a lot of, I think the reason because of the election in May, there's a lot of discussion in the political debate, but there is no instruction to the industry about any prolongation at the moment. So we'll see the end of the current regulation at the end of March. We have not been aware of a new scheme for the moment.
We expect the Ministry of Energy to come very soon with a new scheme, but we are waiting for that. In terms of the prices for households versus the market price, yes, there is a gap. I think the gap is more important in electricity than in gas due to the fact that the gap, looking if you take out the distribution cost, the taxes, etc., there is quite a big gap between the power market price and the household, especially if you are below 100 kilowatts. But I think what is important for the new regulation is not to look at the volume of the customers, but at the income of the customers, and to define the scheme which is linked to vulnerable customers, which is what the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Finance have told in the press in the last days.
So that's why we are waiting to see what will be the final scheme to protect renewable customers. We have also in equity a lot of consumers, a lot of people who have installed using credit from the government. So they have different classes of customers and have some advantages as well. So let's see what will come from that.
Okay. Okay. Thank you very much.
Taking in mind that if you want to ask a question, you need to press *11 on your telephone keypad. Your next question comes from the line of Daniela Mândru from Swiss Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi. Hello. Thank you for the presentation and for taking my questions. I have several questions related to the taxation, of course. Regarding the asset tax, how do you see this taxation impacting the Neptun Deep project?
Do you believe that Neptun Deep project assets will be impacted by this asset tax? And also regarding this asset tax, yes, you offered us a guidance for this year, but going forward, there will come in place a lot of renewables. So can you provide us some guidance on the asset tax around 2027, the level of this asset tax? And the other questions are related to your forecast for this year regarding the production. You indicated 104 barrels per BOE per day for 2025. Can you split or indicate the decrease by oil and gas production to indicate what the level of decrease is for split by the type of hydrocarbon production, and then related to the volumes to be sold, gas volumes to be sold at the regulated prices?
From your last, I think from your last conference, I have for this quarter, assuming that starting in April, this regulation will not apply anymore. So regarding this volume, I have a figure here of 2.6 terawatts to be sold at regulated prices in the first quarter of this year. So please confirm it. 2.6. That is all.
Thank you. Thank you for your questions. I think the question is taxation, asset taxation, construction tax, the impact on Neptun Deep, and then the impact on renewable investments, and then production question. Christina will take that. Alina, that's all. Thank you.
Hello, Daniela. I will start with the taxation questions.
With regards to Neptun Deep and offshore assets, we believe this tax does not apply to Neptun Deep and to offshore assets because these are basically protected by the offshore law, which in our view is clear in this respect with regards to fiscal stability that applies to such projects. With regards to our indication guidance for the impact on us, it's really preliminary draft indication because it all depends very much on the consultation process that will start soon. So there are many questions, many questions, which are around taxation base, which are around applicability, around renewable as well. So it's very hard to provide the guidance, but it's really roughly and indicative, and it's impossible for us at this stage to imagine a future impact as well.
In all this process, we will reiterate the importance for Romania's state to find the right balance between short-term fiscal needs and the need for investments that Romania has because only investments can bring economic benefits that the country needs. So we hope that we will be heard, and we will, of course, once the consultation process will be finalized and we have a certainty, we will provide more precise information.
Thank you. And Daniela, I'll continue to your volume. Yes, you're correct. So 2.6 terawatt-hours is a bit less than last year for the same quarter was 2.9 terawatt-hours. Yeah. And with regard to the production forecast, indeed, we're seeing a forecast of 104,000 BOE per day. That's translating to a 4.5% decline. I would say that it's a bit more of the decline. It's a bit higher on oil than on gas.
Okay. Thank you.
But overall, no, I'm trying to compute by myself an asset tax on the future reinvestments, excluding Neptun Deep. So yes, you mentioned, and everybody knows that you will invest RON 8 billion per year over the next two years. RON, out of this, over the period, the investment in Neptun Deep will be up to EUR 2 billion. I would like to know, by 2027, what would be the investments in renewables and other projects in refining and margin? Just to have an idea because after that, it's simple to compute the asset tax.
I think what is important to understand, not all investments are subject to this tax. Only those which go into this category of construction. And it's not so easy to calculate starting from the investment.
My proposal is to wait a few more months, and then we will have a better basis for calculation because now it's pure speculation. What goes in, what goes out? Is it book value? Is it what kind of book value? So we will ask all these questions, and we hope we get clarity, and then we can have a reliable calculation.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you a lot for the answers, and this is all from my part. Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of Jonathan Lamb from Wood & Co. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon, Jonathan.
Jonathan, we cannot hear you.
Can you hear me now?
Yes.
We do.
Okay. Good. Thanks for the presentation. I was looking at gas storage statistics in Europe, and I noticed that Romania is particularly low compared to many other European countries.
Do you see any issue with refilling the storage this year? Jonathan, is that your one question, or did you have any other? Yeah. Just the one question. The other questions I was going to ask have already been asked.
Okay. All right. Frank, you want to talk about it.
Yeah. Hi, Jonathan. Yes, we are a bit below the average in Europe. It's true in terms of the level of the gas storage at the moment. Now, in terms of refilling the storage, I think one of the advantages of Romania compared to other countries is we are producing during the summer more than what we are consuming, and we have an excess of gas. But we will see how far the storage if we go really close to zero, how much we can reinject.
I think historically, we have problems to reinject due to the level of gas production.
Okay. Thanks.
So for a moment, to see if there are any further questions. I see there are no more questions. I want to thank you again for taking part in our conference call. For further information, please do not hesitate to contact the investor relations team until our next call. We wish you all the best. Thank you.
Thank you. Bye.
Thank you.
Thank you.
That concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. Ladies and gentlemen, you may now disconnect.