The drop in temperature, even if it was slight, is indicative of Romania’s much-touted energy “independence” during hot weather. Average temperatures below -5 C have resulted in about 10% dependence on imports, says Dumitru Ciselice, president of the Intelligent Energy Association.

According to him, even if gas consumption in Romania in 2022 fell by about 16% due to high prices and high temperatures, even if the development of gas from the Black Sea started with an average gas inflow of approx. 10%, even if the amount of gas stored in 2022 was at a record level, even if the degree of gas production this winter was higher than all EU countries, 3 days of average temperature from -3 to -5 C, a compromise of the so-called energy “independence” and impose imports up to 10%.

According to him, starting from 2012, independence from imported gas was discussed in Romania due to the closure of the industry after the crisis of 2009-2010 and resumed with a new stage of closure of enterprises in 2021-2022.

“Successful economies are based on added value obtained by capitalizing on natural and human resources and producing products with high added value,” says Ciselice.

• Thus, from this point of view, when processing methane, the added value of the obtained products is high compared to the use of gases for other purposes (the lowest added value of the use of gases is observed when heating buildings).

“The government’s hope that commercial companies will be closed and thus we will gain energy independence, and later the transition to the export of raw materials at the expense of finished products that can be obtained from them, was an action that did not create economic well-being and, as you can see, did not create independence from imported gas,” explained the president of the Intelligent Energy Association.

• A successful economy is based on added value obtained through the capitalization of natural and human resources, as well as obtaining products with high added value.

“Thus, from this point of view, when processing methane, the added value of the obtained products is high compared to the use of gases for other purposes (the lowest added value of the use of gases is observed when heating buildings),” he added.

Kieselice reminds us that the concept of energy independence, first proposed by Richard Nixon in the context of the 1973 oil crisis, was abandoned even by its promoter, leading to the launch of the concept of energy security.

“Energy security is often analyzed exclusively through the lens of resource provision, but the concept is much broader and includes: security of demand, security of supply, energy poverty reduction, intellectual energy, communication, specific government and fiscal policies. Any imbalance in this equation is likely to cause energy insecurity,” says Dumitru Kiselice.