The Romanian Government has postponed the privatization of the majority stake of Romgaz by the end of 2006. According to Romanian officials, Gaz de France, Lukoil, E.ON-Ruhrgas and MOL were interested in bidding for the stake in the gas company producing 6.7bn m3 a year. MOL’s annual gas production is half of that of Romgas. Romgaz’s 2005-2010 strategy involves modernizing production and expanding their storage capacity to 30m m3 from the current 18m3/day. Romgaz had total equity of USD 132m in 2005. The delay in the privatization could be negative for MOL, as the pricing of the gas reserves might change. We reiterate our Hold recommendation on the stock.