Romania’s natural gas imports soar as market liberalisation is reversed

The imports of natural gas soared 353 times in year-on-year terms to 1,185,490 MWh in May, state news agency Agerpresinformed quoting data from the market regulator ANRE.

Natural gas imports had risen 100 times year-on-year in April, Agerpres added. Furthermore, the price of the imported natural gas was 12% lower than the price of the domestic gas traded on the local exchange: RON 89 per MWh versus RON 101 per MWh.

The development came in the context of the Government capping the price of the natural gas delivered by local producers to residential consumers (or for the production of heating for residential consumers) at RON 68 per MWh.

According to the statistics office INS, the imports of natural gas in January-May accounted for 864,000 equivalent tonnes oil (toe) -- or 12.5 million MWh. This means that the gas imports in May accounted for less than one-tenth of the imports in the five months.

The imports of natural gas in January-May increased by roughly 39% year-on-year and accounted for 20% of the total natural gas consumption in the period, according to INS. The figures point to a certain increase in imports in line with the new regulations. However, the sharp surge in April May occurred amid low volumes therefore is not particularly relevant.

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