The first days of real winter increased gas consumption in the country to more than 50 million cubic meters. Although we have full warehouses and the authorities say we can supply everything we need from Romanian gas, part of our consumption is imported. This is because gas from abroad is cheaper than gas from storage in Romania, Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja explains to HotNews.ro.

According to Transgaz, on Tuesday morning at 10:00 a.m. gas consumption was 53.8 million cubic meters (according to statistics, the average consumption of a winter day is 50 million cubic meters).

Of this consumption, 23.9 million cubic meters is from current domestic production, 26.1 million from deposits and 3.8 million cubic meters from imports.

When asked by HotNews.ro why Romania imports gas, even though its storages are more than 80% full, Energy Minister Sebastian Burduia replied:

“These are commercial decisions and small volumes. Sometimes it is cheaper to import than to get from warehouses, and the decision is up to each individual company. Romania also exported, including yesterday. I repeat, these are purely commercial decisions.”

The same answer came from Transgaz CEO Ion Sterian.

“Each (company – no) takes gas from where it is cheaper. Imports are coming from Bulgaria, but we don’t know which importing companies,” he told HotNews.ro.

Theoretically, the gases are of “European” origin. But in practice, they can come both from Russia, which supplies gas to Turkey through Turkish Stream, and from Azerbaijan, which has a contract with Bulgaria.

According to the head of Transgaz, it is good that we are importing gas now and leaving gas in warehouses for later.

“Winter is long. If we used more gas from the fields now, the pressure would decrease, and closer to the end of February, we would be able to produce less from the fields,” Sterian said.

This is in the face of what ANM estimates is likely to be more snow this February than in other years.

According to Steryan, the national gas system currently works without problems.

Why is imported gas cheaper?

At the beginning of the cold season, that is, on November 1, the warehouses in Romania were filled by more than 100%, or rather by 103%, and the Romanian authorities boasted about this success throughout the autumn.

But these gases were stored at a time when the price was higher than now.

On the European Gas Exchange, TTF quotes from April to October (storage period) ranged from €45 to €64 per MWh, and are currently €31 per MWh.

In addition, there are suspicions that prices are set incorrectly in the gas market in Romania, and ANRE has launched several inspections in this regard.