Pachiu and Associates is the exclusive contributor for Romania to the Energy and Natural Resources Global Guide published by Thomson Reuters. The relevant chapters on Energy and Natural Resources: Electricity, Mining and Oil and Gas, published within the prestigious Legal Guide “Practical Law”, by Thomson Reuters, in London, 2019, provide for an accurate industry overview and include the most relevant industry aspects, as well as the latest legislative changes implemented in the energy sector. Delia Pachiu (Vasiliu), head of the energy practice group at Pachiu and Associates, is author of the chapter “Electricity Regulation in Romania” available here: Electricity regulation in Romania: overview ...

As an energy expert in the Romanian upstream sector recognized at international level, Laurentiu Pachiu, managing partner, and Raluca Mustaciosu, senior attorney with Pachiu and Associates, have co-authored the chapter concerning Romanian Oil and Gas legislation of the prestigious Legal Guide “Practical Law” published by Thomson Reuters in London and available at the following link: Oil and gas regulation in Romania: overview

The relevant chapters on Energy and Natural Resources: Electricity, Mining and Oil and Gas, published within the prestigious Legal Guide “Practical Law”, by Thomson Reuters, in London, 2019, provide for an accurate industry overview and include the most relevant industry aspects, as well as the latest legislative changes implemented in the energy sector. The chapter on “Mining in Romania” is available at the following link: Mining in Romania: overview

As an energy expert in the Romanian upstream sector recognized at international level, Laurentiu Pachiu, together with Raluca Mustaciosu, senior attorney with Pachiu and Associates, have co-authored the chapter concerning Romanian Oil and Gas legislation of the last issue of the prestigious Legal Guide “Practical Law” published by Thomson Reuters in London and available at the following link: https://global.practicallaw.com/2-566-0966

Pachiu and Associates Attorneys at Law has been awarded with the premium for their excellent performance in the energy sector, at the Gala for Top Lawyers in Romania, organised by Finmedia publishing group. On this occasion, Delia Pachiu, partner and coordinator of the „Energy and Natural Resources” Practice Group at Pachiu and Associates, received the award as „Top Attorney in the Energy Sector” for her activity performed this year in the energy industry.

Interview of Laurentiu Pachiu concerning the future of Black Sea offshore upstream developments. View Mr. Pachiu’s interview...  

Presentation of Laurentiu Pachiu at the Energy Security panel (“Energy Security: a nightmare or an opportunity for the Balkans and the Black Sea region?”) of the Black Sea and Balkans Security Forum 2018, held at Constanta, Romania, on June 14-16, 2018. View & listen to Mr. Pachiu’s speech  

Authors: Alexandru Lefter, Mihaela Cracea | This article appeared in the 2018 edition of The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Data Protection 2018; published by Global Legal Group Ltd, London. Website: www.iclg.co.uk The ICLG guide gathers the expertise of its contributors to create a resource of the most up-to-date law and policy information available globally. The International Comparative Legal Guides...  

The Hudson Institute, in cooperation with the Romanian research institute New Strategy Center, organized a conference on Black Sea regional issues and their importance to both NATO and U.S. security. An expert panel discussed challenges and opportunities facing the U.S. and its allies in this volatile environment. View Mr. Pachiu’s Slides View & listen to Mr. Pachiu’s speech

We earned the honors for the best transaction in energy for our work assisting Carlyle International Energy Partners in the acquisition of Sterling Resources’ operations in Romania. The Lawyers’ Gala is organised every year by Ziarul Financiar in order to reward the best performers in the business law market. Ziarul Financiar recognised and celebrated law firms with a track record of success in some of the largest deals taking place in Romania over the past 12 months. The Lawyers’ Gala takes places every year and so far it has reached its seventh edition. More details here. ...

The Top Lawyers Gala event organized by the Romanian media trust Finmedia and dedicated to expert attorneys in Romania, has granted awards to attorneys with most important expertise and reputation, that have achieved highest performance over the past year and not only, in key branches of business law such as: Mergers & Acquisitions; Competition/antitrust; Criminal law; Human rights/CEDO; Energy and natural resources; Environmental law; Finance & banking; Capital markets; Insolvency; Corporate restructuring; Litigation; Arbitration; Labor law; PPP; Real Estate; Fiscal law; Telecom/media/technologies etc. For more details on this topic, click on the following link. ...

The ICLG guide gathers the expertise of its contributors to create a resource of the most up-to-date law and policy information available globally. The International Comparative Legal Guides provide current and practical comparative legal information on a range of practice areas, following a Q&A format to ensure thorough coverage of each topic within different legal systems worldwide (www.iclg.co.uk). Co-authors of the Romania Chapter, Alexandru Lefter and Mihaela Cracea, outline important legal aspects of Romania’s Data Protection Regulation. The guide is also available on the ICLG website at http://iclg.com/practice-areas/data-protection/data-protection-2017/romania.   ...

The Regulation will be implemented 2 years after enforcement, i.e. May 2018, period in which the companies must get organized at internal level so as to prove compliance with the Regulation’s provisions upon implementation of such. The Regulation sets forth the “accountability” concept, meaning that data controllers and data processors will be liable on how they process personal data and must prove compliance with the personal data processing principles, namely: lawfulness, fairness and transparency, purpose limitation, data minimization, data accuracy, storage limitation, data integrity and confidentiality. It brings significant improvement to the current legal regulations mainly taking into account technological evolution and the digitalization of global economy. ...

Pachiu & Associates won the prize for successfully assisting and representing Carlyle International Energy Partners in the acquisition of the offshore operations of Sterling Resources Ltd. in Romania. Alexandru Lefter received the prize on behalf of the firm, delivering a short gratitude speech and outlining the project’s complexity and the team’s performance. The annual awards gala organized by Piata Financiara magazine is acknowledged by the entire institutional community in Romania, the criteria for nominating winners being particularly thorough and unbiased. For more details on the event click here: http://www.piatafinanciara.ro/gala-premiilor-piata-financiara-bcr-banca-anului-omer-tetik-bancherul-anului-remus-borza-personalitatea-anului/ ...

NGE spoke to Romanian lawyer Laurențiu Pachiu, founder and managing partner of Pachiu & Associates as well as of the Energy Policy Group, a Romanian think-tank and knowledge partner of Natural Gas Europe. Pachiu has been advising international oil companies for over 20 years and he has written extensively on upstream and other issues for the business reader. Mr Pachiu, Romania’s offshore potential is quite remarkable. Do you think the current tensions between Russia and Turkey might negatively influence the development of these resources? Would the same argument apply to ties between Moscow and Kiev? The Black Sea has long been developing into a strategic geopolitical “landscape” which is key for the entire European continent and the Caucasian region. The cl...

Until 2018, companies will need to conduct a data protection audit, according to European Directive No. 679/2016 which is to be enacted in Romania as well, said Mihaela Cracea, Managing Associate at Pachiu & Associates. Mihaela Cracea: “The supplementation of a security audit with a personal data protection audit has not been enough debated so as to raise the awareness of all organizations and be accordingly implemented. This year a European personal data protection regulation was enacted (Regulation No. 679/2016, our note) which basically repeals the former directive and reunites, in order to create a uniform system, the national legislation in the EU. This regulation brings many novelties and improves the current legal framework, providing companies with a two-years grace pe...

We were present at JobFest 2017, event powered by ELSA Bucharest at the Faculty of Law, the University of Bucharest, Constantin Stoicescu Hall in an attempt to create a bond with students and recent graduates and find out, by means of a friendly and open approach, what is their outlook on their future profession in the legal business environment. In an attempt to help students figure out, as realistic and honest as possible, what are the prospects when it comes to a career in law, our lawyers gave their personal example and described the challenges an attorney may be faced with in today’s market background in Romania. Pachiu & Associates has always maintained a close connection with the academic environment in Romania, actively taking part in the training of law s...

The event hosted by the Hilton Hotel on November 17th in Bucharest was a real success joining experts and influencers from various areas such as: fraud risk, compliance, audit, operational risk, AML and conflict of interests in both the private and public sector and from all industries: Banking, Financial, Telecom, Energy, Consultancy, Retail, Pharma, etc. Pachiu & Associates was the event partner and speaker Mihaela Cracea once again captured audience attention discussing about data protection in money laundering investigations.

Pachiu & Associates successfully represented Carlyle International Energy Partners, a company part of the global investment group Carlyle, in relation to the acquisition of the operations of Sterling Resources Ltd. in Romania, transaction exceeding USD 40 million. The transaction was aimed at the transfer of the participation shares owned by Sterling in certain petroleum blocks in the continental shelf of the Black Sea (XIII Pelican, XV Midia, EX-25 Luceafarul, EX-27 Muridava) through the acquisition of Sterling’s wholly-owned subsidiary Midia Resources SRL, operator in the aforementioned blocks. The project is a large scale investment in the upstream sector in Romania having as estimated completion date the second trimester of the current year, after several specific conditio...

Pachiu & Associates published an overview on electricity regulation in Romania for the 2016 edition of the Global Guide to Energy and Natural Resources published by Practical Law (Thomson Reuters). The article gives a high level overview of the domestic electricity market, including domestic electricity companies, electricity generation and renewable energy, transmission, distribution, supply and tax issues. It covers the regulatory structure; foreign ownership; import of electricity; authorization and operating requirements; trading between generators and suppliers; rates and conditions of sale and proposals for reform. The chapter on Romania is part of Thomson Reuters’ Energy and Natural Resources Multi-jurisdictional Guide, which combines topical cross-border oil ...

The Operational HR Forum is an event dedicated to HR managers and experts and by the topics discussed it aims to shed light on the new legislation and regulations in the field, easing the day to day activity of HR departments. The audience featured HR managers & directors, HR Business Partners, Entrepreneurs, Tax & payroll specialists and more. Mihaela Cracea took the floor at the Operational HR Forum organized in Cluj Napoca at the end of October 2016. She approached issues such as HR department compliance and new legal trends in HR delivering a successful presentation in front of a wide audience.

"The analysis of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict calls for a comprehensive approach which cannot rule out the energy equation. In line with the trends set forth by the petroleum crises that have marked the second half of the previous century, ever since the petroleum crisis in 1973, the beginning of the XXI century distinguishes itself by new coordinates assigned to energy matters, such as a more structured and coordinated feedback of energy–consuming, developed countries to the geopolitical challenges promoted by exporting-countries..." Read more in the attached pdf.

There have been certain events evolving within a relative short time span which, in a combined approach, may have indicated the outcome of the Nabucco project: (i) BP’s significant financial exposure in the US following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, (ii) BP’s position in the Shah Deniz consortium and the Southern Corridor selection process, (iii) the expertise of BP in offshore and arctic regions which would enable Rosneft to develop its capabilities, (iv) ultimately, the 2012/2013 BP-TNK-Rosneft deal in Russia which financially fueled BP’s balance sheet threatened by the Mexico Gulf disaster, (v) Gazprom’s withdrawal from the privatization bid for Greek DEPA gas company in favor of Azeri SOCAR (member...

Laurentiu Pachiu writes an interesting analysis on petroleum taxation, now available to the public in the attachment. The Romanian version of the article can be accessed at the below link: http://www.contributors.ro/economie/%E2%80%9Cfit-for-fifty%E2%80%9D-si-poate-mai-mult-de-atat%E2%80%A6/  

The diversification of the natural gas sources and routes for Europe’s natural gas supply therefore became a politic and strategic priority for the EU. On the other hand, it was mandatory for the Russian Federation to develop an alternative natural gas supply route for its European customers, bypassing Ukraine. Both „energy blocks”, namely the European consumers and the main supplier, the Russian Federation, are thus faced with the strategic conundrum of redesigning energy relations, being currently driven by conflicting feelings with long term irreversible consequences. Read more in the attached pdf. ...

"The historical and geopolitical context of the past years mainly portrayed by the arcs of crisis at the Eurasian border and in the Middle East, as part of the process of transition to a new global security order caused the Romanian-American relations to enter a new phase which bears major strategic implications and opportunities."    

Pachiu & Associates writes a series of insights on electricity, oil & gas and mining regulation in Romania for the 2017 edition of the Global Guide to Energy and Natural Resources published by Practical Law (Thomson Reuters). The articles provide a comprehensive level overview of the energy market with specific focus on the domestic mining sector, the regulatory structure and ownership, the domestic electricity market, electricity generation and renewable energy, environmental impact assessments, sale and trade in oil and gas, decommissioning and waste regulations. The chapter on Romania is part of Thomson Reuters’ Energy and Natural Resources Multi-jurisdictional Guide, which combines topical cross-border oil and gas, mining and electricity issues and country-specifi...

Authors:  Laurentiu Pachiu, Raluca Mustaciosu | This article appeared in the 2017 edition of The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Oil & Gas Regulation; published by Global Legal Group Ltd, London. Website: www.iclg.co.uk The ICLG guide gathers the expertise of its contributors to create a resource of the most up-to-date law and policy information available globally.The International Comparative Legal Guides provide current and practical comparative legal information on a range of practice areas, following a Q&A format to ensure thorough coverage of each topic within different legal systems worldwide (www.iclg.co.uk). Co-authors of the Romania Chapter, Laurentiu Pachiu and Raluca Mustaciosu, outline important legal aspects of Romania’s Oil & Gas Regulation. The guide i...

Authors: Delia Vasiliu, Laurentiu Pachiu, Radu Dudau |  This article appeared in the Fifth Edition of Global Legal Insights – Energy; published by Global Legal Group Ltd, London. Website:  www.globallegalinsights.com The GLI series provides readers with a series of essential insights into the current law-related issues affecting their business. Each book focuses on a specific legal practice area, providing readers with expert analysis of legal, economic and policy developments through the eyes of the world’s leading lawyers.The authors of each Insight draw upon their own expertise to highlight crucial market trends, legal developments and impending reforms to give general counsel, government agencies and private practice lawyers an understanding of the key iss...

Laurentiu Pachiu signed another well-received analysis on petroleum royalties, now available on our website in the attachment. Also, the Romanian version of the article can be accessed in the media, at the below link: http://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-opinii-20518656-redeventele-petroliere-statul-drept-sau-despre-cum-pierde-statul-romn-respectul-sine.htm  

During this process, EBRD became a shareholder of Black Sea Oil & Gas. Pachiu & Associates advised Black Sea Oil & Gas and Carlyle during the negotiation and implementation of the transaction documents, ensuring a smooth completion of the transaction. With its head office in Bucharest and support from the Carlyle Group, Black Sea Oil and Gas SRL is well positioned to develop its existing gas discoveries in the Black Sea, expand its presence and become a leading player in the Romanian oil and gas sector and fulfil its mandate becoming a significant independent development and production company in the region. Find out more ...

Several years ago, when efforts started to be made for reshaping the (rigid and dogmatic) education system in Romania, the Bucharest Bar Association considered as appropriate to include in the examination scheme questions on some practical cases. At that examination, the Bar Association has managed to do even more, somehow undermining the solemnity of the examination and stimulating candidates’ health through laughter therapy. In a few words, the case that we were supposed to consider concerned civil liability that had to be undertaken if the pigs on a farm should be infested by a supplier. That moment is still well imprinted in my mind, not so much for the unusual challenges of the ability to summarize all-round education, history, philosophy, analytic and synthetic logic in matters...

Order No. 2856/2017 on the establishment of the criteria for tax risk assessment in case of registration and cancellation of registration for value added tax purposes, on approval of the Procedure on tax risk assessment for taxable entities applying for registration for value added tax purposes under Article 316 para. (1) items a) and c) and para. (12) item e) of Law No. 227/2015 on Fiscal Code, on approval, at request, of the Procedure for registration for value added tax purposes under Article 316 para. (12) item e) of Law No. 227/2015 on Fiscal Code, and on approval of the Procedure for annulment, ex officio, of the registration for value added tax purposes for taxable persons with high tax risk, as per Article 316 para. (11) item h) of Law No. 227/2015 on the Fiscal Code  ...

Law No. 333/2003 on security of objectives, goods, valuables and protection of individuals   Read more details in the attachment  

Government Emergency Ordinance No. 82/2017 amending and supplementing several legislative acts   Read more details in the attachment

Resolution No. 419/2017 on approval of the methodological norms for the application of Law No. 151/2015 on insolvency procedures for natural persons   Read more details in the attachment

Law No. 132/2017 on civil liability auto insurance for damages caused to third parties by auto vehicles and tramway accidents   Read more details in the attachment

Government Emergency Ordinance No. 77/2017 on establishment of the National Centre for Financial Information   Read more details in the attachment

Resolution No. 846/2017 on setting the minimum gross wage per country guaranteed in payment Read more details in the attachment.

Regulation No. 11/2017 on amendment and supplementation of Regulation No. 3/2016 of the Financial Supervisory Authority on the applicable criteria and the procedure for the prudential assessment of acquisitions and increase of shareholdings in the entities regulated by the Financial Supervisory Authority   Read more details in the attachment