Romania’s gas imports from Russia increased by 485% in the first eight days of January compared to the same period last year due to the very cold weather and the reduced production of the two large domestic gas producers Romgaz and OMV Petrom.

The two companies produced less gas as a result of artificially higher gas prices in the domestic market, reports local Profit.ro.

The increase was caused by the introduction of a tax on the income from the gas market liberalization. Basically, the gas produced in the country became more expensive, and thus uncompetitive in comparison to imported gas.

In the first eight days of 2016, gas imports amounted to 164.1 MWh whereas in the first eight days of this year, they reached 961.1 MWh.

Romania’s gas consumption reached a record level on Monday and in the night between Monday and Tuesday, namely 72.4 million cubic meters per day, according to energy minister Toma Petcu.

editor@romania-insider.com