State Oil Reserves and the Investment and Development Bank’s Capital: What Law No. 171/2026 Provides

Law No. 171/2026 settles two specific budgetary operations of the state: it gives the National Administration of State Reserves and Special Issues budgetary tools for purchases linked to offshore and deep onshore petroleum exploitation, and sets a firm deadline, 30 September 2026, for paying the amounts through which the state increases its stake in the Investment and Development Bank. The law, promulgated and published on the same day, 5 August 2026, is one of the most technical and narrow in scope among the fiscal-budgetary acts published that day in the Official Gazette of Romania.

The first article authorises ANRSPS to add commitment credits to its own budget for purchases required by the application of Law No. 256/2018, which regulates the measures needed for the petroleum operations of holders of petroleum agreements on offshore and deep onshore areas, strategic zones for Romania’s oil and gas resources in the Black Sea and other deep areas. The exact level of the credits is approved by a government decision, initiated by the General Secretariat of the Government, at ANRSPS’s proposal, and the institution may also conclude multiannual contracts within the limit of these increased credits.

The second article concerns a different subject: the Investment and Development Bank S.A. (BID), the state financial institution that finances infrastructure and development projects, the same bank through which Romania recently contributed EUR 50 million to the Three Seas Fund. The 2026 state budget law already provided, under Article 67, for an increase in the bank’s share capital; Law No. 171/2026 sets the payment deadline for these amounts, 30 September 2026, so this does not remain a budgetary obligation without a clear execution date.

What it changes in practice

For ANRSPS, the law means immediate budgetary flexibility: the institution can now cover, through commitment credits approved by the government, the costs of purchases needed to apply the offshore and deep onshore petroleum legislation, without waiting for a separate budget revision for each contract.

For the Investment and Development Bank, the firm 30 September 2026 deadline means that the share-capital increase, already provided for in the state budget, gets a concrete execution timeline, relevant to the bank’s capacity to finance infrastructure projects in the second half of the year.

For the wider public, the effects are indirect: the state’s oil and gas reserves remain an element of national energy security, and the capitalisation of the development bank supports financing public projects larger than the current budget would allow.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

• New budgetary mechanism for ANRSPS: the institution explicitly receives the right to add commitment credits for purchases linked to offshore/deep onshore petroleum operations, approved by government decision.
• Multiannual contracts allowed: ANRSPS can conclude multi-year contracts within the limit of the increased commitment credits, which was not possible without this legal framework.
• Firm deadline for BID capitalisation: payment of the amounts for increasing the Investment and Development Bank’s share capital must be completed by 30 September 2026, a date that did not explicitly appear in the state budget law.

Advantages and disadvantages

Practical advice

Frequently asked questions