While most of the conversation about Europe’s clean fuels future centres on Rotterdam, Hamburg, and the North Sea coast, one of the most significant green fuels projects on the continent is quietly taking shape in Romania. In March 2026, OMV Petrom received the first of four electrolyser modules for a 20 MW green hydrogen plant at its Petrobrazi refinery, marking a concrete step in a transformation that has been years in the making.
It is the kind of milestone that rarely makes international headlines. It should.
What Actually Happened at Petrobrazi
OMV Petrom, the largest integrated energy producer in Southeast Europe, took delivery of the first electrolyser module for green hydrogen production at Petrobrazi, with the unit to be installed and connected to the power network. The remaining three modules of the 20 MW project are scheduled to arrive in the following months.
The technical setup is worth noting. The electrolyser equipment is supplied by German hydrogen technology company Neuman & Esser, while site construction, fabrication, and integration of the modules are being carried out by Kraftanlagen Romania in partnership with local suppliers. Once complete, the 20 MW plant will produce roughly 3,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year, hydrogen made by splitting water through electrolysis using renewable electricity, which is the cleanest form of hydrogen available today.
This 20 MW unit is only part of the picture. OMV Petrom is building two green hydrogen facilities at Petrobrazi with a combined installed capacity of 55 MW and annual output of around 8,000 tonnes. That hydrogen will not be sold as a standalone product. It will feed directly into the production of sustainable fuels.
The €750 Million Story Behind the Headline
The electrolyser is the visible piece of a much larger investment. OMV Petrom has committed approximately €750 million to turn Petrobrazi into the first major producer of sustainable fuels in Southeast Europe.
The breakdown is straightforward. Around €560 million is allocated to a new Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel (HVO) production unit, and roughly €190 million is directed to the two green hydrogen plants that will supply it. The target is an annual capacity of 250,000 tonnes of sustainable fuels by 2028.
SAF and HVO are produced from renewable feedstocks such as used cooking oils and animal fats. Through advanced refining that uses green hydrogen, these raw materials are converted into fuels with properties comparable to conventional kerosene and diesel, but with a far smaller carbon footprint. According to OMV Petrom, integrating green hydrogen into the process can cut lifecycle CO2 emissions by at least 65 to 70 percent compared with fossil fuels. The same unit is also designed to flex its output into bio-naphtha and bio-LPG, depending on feedstock availability and market demand.
The funding mix matters too. The 20 MW green hydrogen plant benefits from around €21 million in non-reimbursable funds through Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), tying the project directly to Romania’s broader recovery and decarbonisation targets.
Why the Demand Is Already Locked In
This is not a speculative bet on a market that might appear one day. The demand is written into European law.
The ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation is a directly applicable EU regulation, binding on fuel suppliers from the moment it entered into force. It requires a rising minimum share of sustainable aviation fuel at EU airports: 2 percent in 2025, 6 percent in 2030, 20 percent in 2035, 34 percent in 2040, and 70 percent by 2050. A parallel sub-mandate for synthetic e-fuels begins in 2030 and climbs steadily after that.
In other words, every airline fuelling up in the European Union now operates under a legally guaranteed, escalating demand floor for SAF. As of 2024, SAF made up only around half a percent of global jet fuel use, which means production capacity has to scale dramatically to meet the mandate. Producers who build capacity early, like OMV Petrom at Petrobrazi, are positioning themselves to supply a market that has nowhere to go but up.
Why Romania Is a Strong Place to Build This
Romania is not an accidental location for a flagship green fuels project. Several structural advantages line up in its favour.
Renewable resources to power the electrolysers. Green hydrogen is only as clean as the electricity behind it. Romania has substantial wind and solar resources compared with other countries in Southeast Europe, and its updated energy and climate planning targets an 85 percent cut in energy-sector emissions by 2030. That gives projects like Petrobrazi access to the renewable power that genuine green hydrogen requires.
A built-in feedstock supply chain. SAF and HVO depend on a reliable stream of used cooking oils and animal fats. To secure that supply, OMV Petrom acquired a 50 percent stake in Respiră Verde, a leader in used cooking oil collection in Romania. Combined with the country’s significant agricultural base, this gives the project a local feedstock advantage that many Western European sites struggle to match.
Existing infrastructure and certified expertise. Petrobrazi already supplies roughly 35 percent of Romania’s fuel demand and is the first refinery in the country certified to produce SAF and HVO through the co-processing of biological raw materials. Rather than building from zero, OMV Petrom is integrating sustainable fuel production into proven refining, storage, and distribution infrastructure, with a skilled local workforce already in place.
Supportive policy and funding. Romania’s National Hydrogen Strategy and Action Plan, running through 2030, sets a target of around 2.1 GW of electrolysis capacity backed by 4.2 GW of new renewables, with an estimated implementation cost of €4.75 billion. The country has adopted a Hydrogen Code to provide regulatory clarity, and projects can draw on the Modernisation Fund, the Innovation Fund, the European Hydrogen Bank, and PNRR financing. The policy scaffolding for a hydrogen economy is being put in place, not just discussed.
A regional hub position. As the largest energy producer in Southeast Europe, OMV Petrom can position Petrobrazi to serve a region where no other major SAF and HVO producer currently exists. Being first in a growing market is a meaningful competitive advantage.
Taken together, these factors make a credible case that Romania is not merely a viable location for green fuels, but one of the better positioned countries in the region to lead on them.
Momentum Energy’s View
At Momentum Energy, we watch projects like Petrobrazi closely because they show what the energy transition looks like when it moves from strategy decks into steel, electrolysers, and shovels in the ground.
A few things stand out to us. First, this is integration done well. Pairing green hydrogen production directly with sustainable fuel output, rather than treating hydrogen as a product in search of a buyer, is exactly the kind of demand-anchored model that makes clean hydrogen economics work. Second, the locational logic is sound. Renewable power, local feedstock, certified refining capacity, and supportive policy rarely line up this neatly, and Romania has assembled all four. Third, the timing is deliberate. With ReFuelEU Aviation mandates already binding and rising, capacity built now is capacity that meets real, legally guaranteed demand later.
The wider lesson is that the centre of gravity in Europe’s clean fuels story is broader than the established Western hubs. Southeast Europe has the resources, the policy momentum, and increasingly the projects to compete. Petrobrazi is a signal worth paying attention to, and we expect Romania’s role in the regional energy transition to keep growing.
For organisations planning their own decarbonisation pathways, the takeaway is simple. The infrastructure that will define low-carbon transport over the next decade is being built right now, and not always where you might expect.
What’s your read on Southeast Europe’s role in the clean fuels transition? We’d value your perspective in the comments.
