Romanian forces destroyed a maritime drone loaded with explosives near OMV Petrom's Neptun Deep gas platform in the Black Sea on Thursday.

The drone was spotted at approximately 6:28 am local time, drifting several hundred meters from the platform's gas extraction operations. It was located within Romania's exclusive economic zone, roughly 150 km east of Constanța, near the offshore installation where several hundred people were working at the time.

Two fighter jets were scrambled in response, and one of them struck the drone, which continued to drift afterward. A Romanian Coast Guard vessel subsequently destroyed the drone completely.

Romanian President Nicușor Dan described the operation as "a race against time, in which the top priority was protecting the lives of the people working on the platform and keeping critical infrastructure out of any potential danger." After confirming that the drone did not belong to Ukraine, Dan condemned the escalation of such incidents by Russia. "We remain vigilant alongside our NATO allies to defend ourselves and repel such provocations," he added.

The episode is the latest in a series of drone incidents near Neptun Deep, Romania's largest natural gas project and the country's first-ever deep-water development. Earlier this month, the Romanian navy destroyed two drifting drones near the same site, while in late July Romanian pilots destroyed a drone over national territory for the first time. Such finds have become a recurring feature of the western Black Sea since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with drones and wreckage repeatedly appearing in or near the territory and waters of Romania and Bulgaria, NATO members that border the sea, prompting heightened surveillance and, at times, the destruction of uncrewed vehicles.

OMV Petrom, majority-owned by Austria's OMV, operates Neptun Deep and is developing the project together with its partner Romgaz, a Romanian state-controlled gas producer. The development represents an investment of up to €4 billion, among the largest in Romania's energy sector. The field holds around 100 billion cubic meters of estimated recoverable natural gas, several times the country's annual consumption, with production scheduled to begin in 2027. Once online, the project is expected to make Romania the European Union's largest natural gas producer, strengthening the bloc's drive to reduce reliance on Russian gas following Moscow's 2022 invasion.