The seminar brought participants of key public administration positions from Romania and the European Commission, in addition to representatives from Geoecomar (the National Institute for R&D in Geology and Marine Geology) and ISPE (Institute for Studies and Power Engineering). The conference also welcomed industry stakeholders from Alstom, Schlumberger and NGO representatives from the Global CCS Institute (GCCSI) and Bellona.

The aim of the workshop was to prepare the launch of a Romanian candidate project to the EU CCS demonstration programme.  

The opening speech was made by Ioan Dan Gheorghiu, chairman and CEO of ISPE in Romania, who spoke of the necessity to begin to define concrete steps towards identifying a Romanian demonstration project.

Amongst the speakers was His Excellency Øystein Hovdkinn, Ambassador of Norway to Romania, who spoke of Norwegian support for demonstration projects in Central and Eastern Europe.

Sebastian Vladescu, Minister of Public Finance of the Romanian government, clearly signaled that the government would give its utmost support to the launch and candidature of a Romania CCS demonstration project.  

In fact, he explained that Romania has the potential of becoming a CCS lab for Europe. The reason behind this is that there is a high dependence on coal in the country, combined with vast storage potential both in saline aquifers and using CO₂ for enhanced gas recovery in existing gas fields. Romania also has offshore storage facilities to which CO₂ can be transported both by pipeline and by ship.