Romania will not exploit shale gas in next five years - PM

"In the next five years, Romania has the obligation to set in place the best performing and most modern legislation regarding environment protection, so that if we exploit in five years' time we have all the guarantees," Ponta told the public radio station in a an interview on Thursday.

He added that Romania should use any resource it has, while meeting the highest environment protection standards, in order to reduce its dependence on Russian gas.

U.S. group Chevron Corp started to carry out shale gas exploration activities in Romania's northwestern village of Silistea but had to halt them several times due to protests by the inhabitants of the nearby villages.

In October last year, Chevron Romania Exploration and Production obtained a one-year permit, with an option for extension, to drill a shale gas well in Silistea. In July, it received permission from the country's environmental protection agency to drill the Popeni 1A, Silistea 1A and Paltinis 1A exploration wells, all three located in Vaslui county.