Price of natural gas spikes on Romanian spot market above price of Russian gas

The price for the Romanian gas traded on the local market equaled in March that of the Vienna gas hub and exceeded the average price of the gas sold by Gazprom, local Economica.net reported.

This was mainly an effect of the emergency ordinance (OUG) 114/2018, which has disturbed the gas market. Initially, in December, the Government capped the price of the gas produced locally and sold to residential or industrial users, discouraging local producers, who considered cutting output. Later, the Government lifted the cap on the price of gas sold to industrial users. However, Romgaz still has to deliver one-third of its production to residential consumers (or to heating producers) at a regulated price, which is likely to push up the prices on the free market for industrial users.

The average weighted price of natural gas from the domestic production was RON 91.03 (EUR 19.2) per MWh in March, according to data from the Romanian Commodities Exchange, the most liquid gas trading platform in Romania. According to the same source, in the same month, the average price of gas traded at Austria’s hub Baumgarten (CEGH Front Month Index), was RON 91.1 per MWh.

Since last fall, Gazprom Export publishes a monthly index, which is an average of gas sales prices on its electronic trading platform (ESPGazEX). The average price published by Gazprom Export for the March transactions was EUR 18.01 per MWh of gas.

(Photo source: Shutterstock)