The degree of filling of gas deposits in Romania on Thursday exceeded the goal of 90%, adopted by the European Union on November 1. But, despite this, Romania will need imports in frosty periods, since the capacity of gas production from fields is limited.

“The total degree of filling is 90.24%, respectively, the total reserve: 2,860.6 million cubic meters. In addition, in the first six months of the year, gas production in Romania increased by 6.5%, while imports decreased by 34.7%. There are resources for the needs of the population and industry,” former energy minister Virgil Popescu wrote on Facebook.

The current profile minister, Sebastian Bourduia, also said on Facebook two weeks ago, when storage capacity was 85%, that Romania could survive the winter using only domestically produced gas.

“We are approaching 85% of gas storage capacity for the cold season. 570 million cubic meters more than in the same period last year. This is good news, because it means that we will be able to survive the winter normally, using only Romanian gas and fields (100% independent). We also have options for severe winters (Azerbaijan, Greece),” Burduja said.

Why do we still need to import

But the experience of the past winters showed us that when the consumption increases, Romania cannot cover its consumption only with the gases of the current domestic production and those that it takes from the storages.

This is explained by the fact that even if the reservoirs are full, the gas production capacity is limited. So, at consumption peaks, we also need imports.

Until recent years, the only source of gas imports for Romania was the Russian Federation, but after the start of the war with Ukraine, Romania tried to diversify its sources.

Contracts for the import of gas from Azerbaijan were signed and the construction of the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector, the last missing link for gas from the Caspian region entering our country, was completed.