Romania destroyed an explosive maritime drone near OMV Petrom’s Neptun Deep gas platform in the Black Sea on Thursday, in the latest Neptun Deep drone incident reported near the offshore project.
The drone was detected at around 6:28 am local time, several hundred metres from the platform’s gas extraction operations. Two fighter jets were scrambled, and one struck the drone. It continued to drift before a Romanian Coast Guard vessel destroyed it completely.
The incident took place inside Romania’s exclusive economic zone, roughly 150 km east of Constanța. Several hundred people were working at the offshore platform at the time.
Romanian President Nicușor Dan said protecting personnel on the platform and keeping critical infrastructure away from potential danger were the main priorities during the response.
Dan confirmed that the drone did not belong to Ukraine and condemned what he described as an escalation of such incidents by Russia. He also said Romania would remain vigilant with its NATO allies.
The incident followed previous drone activity near Neptun Deep. Earlier this month, Romania’s navy destroyed two drifting drones near the same site. In late July, Romanian pilots destroyed a drone over national territory for the first time.
Neptun Deep is Romania’s largest natural gas project and its first-ever deep-water project. OMV Petrom operates the development with partner Romgaz.
The project holds around 100bn cu m of estimated recoverable natural gas. Production is scheduled to begin in 2027, and the project is expected to make Romania the European Union’s largest natural gas producer.
