Bucharest-based Black Sea Oil & Gas (BSOG) energy company and Romanian crops and seeds business Unigrains Trading have signed a cooperation agreement for a combined biomethane and biofertiliser production facility which aims to produce 57MW of biomethane and over 250,000 tonnes of organic fertilisers a year.
Under the agreement, Unigrains will provide the raw feedstock waste material for the production plant and hold and manage the rights of the resulting fertilisers to the wholesale and retail markets. BSOG Energy will be responsible for building, owning and operating the plant and managing the biomethane production.
The overall investment in the facility is more than €65m, with project execution is expected to complete in about two years.
Mark Beacom, Managing Director of BSOG Energy, said, “In removing organic waste from the environment and simultaneously developing green gas to displace natural gas and organic fertilisers to replace chemical fertilisers, we trust this project has the potential to significantly contribute to the energy sustainability of Romania.”
The realisation of this project requires a supportive regulatory framework, he added.
Theodor Ichim, CEO of Unigrains Trading and President of The Forum of Professional Farmers and Processors of Romania, said it has adopted a hybrid-chemical and organic farming system for fertilisation and treatments on its farm since 2018, recognising the “constraints” of European regulations and climate challenges.
Studies put Romania’s biomethane potential at around 2 bcm by 2030 and 65 TWh/year by 2050. The EU is targeting 35 bcm of sustainable biomethane production and use by 2030.
Last year BSOG Energy and livestock and dairy producer DN Agrar Group signed an agreement for a 20MW biomethane production facility.
