02-09-08 A decades-long dispute between Romania and Ukraine over boundaries in a hydrocarbon-rich zone of the Black Sea entered a new phase when it came before the UN's highest court in The Hague. Romania fired the opening volley in the two-week public hearings, accusing Ukraine of having shown bad faith in years of failed bilateral negotiations aimed at drawing new maritime boundaries.
"It is not the sophisticated nature of this case but the non-compliance of Ukraine with the rules of delimitation that led to the failure of the bilateral negotiations," foreign affairs official Bogdan Aurescu argued for Romania before a panel of 16 judges of the International Court of Justice.

Romania instituted proceedings against its neighbour in September 2004 after six years of bilateral negotiations failed to yield a treaty or resolve an issue that has caused rivalry between the states for decades.
The dispute concerns an area of some 12,400 sq km, and plans by Kiev to create an exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, around Serpents Island, where natural gas and oil deposits are thought to be concentrated. Romanian experts estimate the area may contain 100 bn cm of gas.

Serpents Island, a 17-hectare uninhabited islet, belonged to Romania until 1948, when it was ceded to the Soviet Union. Romanian authorities objected to Kiev's later efforts to change its legal status by presenting it as an island enjoying "its own economic life" and thus a right to an EEZ. Romania has described the island as a "rock with no source of water or vegetation."
The ICJ is the highest court of the UN, set up to rule on disputes between states.