June 28 (SeeNews) - Romanian natural gas producer Romgaz [BSE:SNG] said it has received a 20.99 million lei ($5.2 million/4.5 million euro) grant from the country's energy ministry for a project to build a combined cycle gas turbine power plant in Iernut, in the central part of the country.
The company provided no further details in a statement filed with the Bucharest stock exchange on Wednesday.
With a planned installed generation capacity of 430 megawatts (MW), the Iernut project in Mures county is expected to be Southeast Europe’s largest gas project in five years, Romgaz said earlier.
It is also Romania’s largest public investment in conventional power in 20 years and will require a total investment of 269 million euro ($301 million) from Romgaz.
The project was announced in November 2016.
Romgaz's net profit fell 10.6% year-on-year to 501.2 million lei in the first quarter of 2018 due to a drop in delivered gas volumes, which was determined by a nationwide reduction of gas consumption, warm winter weather and increased wind power generation, as well as lower gas prices.
The company's main shareholder is the Romanian state with a 70% stake, with the balance of 30% in free float on the BVB.
Shares in Romgaz traded 0.27% higher at 36.6 lei by 1451 CET on Thursday on the BVB.
(1 euro=4.6569 Romanian lei)