Caspian Report - Issue: 08 - Fall 2014

Black Sea
Serpents’ Island.
RADU DUDAU
82
to the principles established by the
UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act,
and the Charter of Paris for a New
Europe, as well as other OSCE documents.
Laying down the principle of
inviolability of borders, the bilateral
treaty states that the parties would
separately and subsequently agree
upon the border regime (under the
Treaty) and the delimitation of the
continental shelf and the EEZ. It
makes no specific reference to the
production of subsoil resources in
the Black Sea.
In compliance with the treaty’s
terms, Romania and Ukraine concluded
the Treaty between Romania
and Ukraine on the state border regime,
cooperation and mutual assistance
in border issues, in force as
of May 27, 2004. Article 1 provides
several principles to be applied by
the parties in delimitating the continental
shelf and the EEZ. The only
clause referring to production of
subsoil resources is Article 18, providing
that prospecting and production
operations may be conducted
up to a maximum 20 meters from
the state border, if parties do not
agree otherwise.
Stalled negotiations between the
two countries on the delimitation of
the continental shelf and of the EEZ
in the Black Sea (including the status
of the Snakes Island) has led Bucharest
to set the action (with Ukraine’s
consent) under the jurisdiction of
the ICJ. On February 3, 2009, the ICJ
rendered its judgment, setting the
borders.
After the ICJ’s judgment, Romania
concluded various petroleum concession
agreements for exploration
and production activities up
to the limit of its continental shelf
and the EEZ: the Pelican, Muridava,
Cobalcescu, Rapsodia, Trident, and
Neptun blocs. Operations in these
blocs are ongoing.
Following the secession and annexation
of Crimea by Russia, Romania
has a de facto situation common
border with the Russian Federation
in the Black Sea. In this respect,
the main question is to understand
whether Romania’s production of