Spot natural gas price goes up 20% in Romania after imports drop unexpectedly

The price of natural gas on the Romanian spot market rose by 20% in just one day, converging to those seen in northern Europe, after the net imports of Russian gas through the pipeline from Bulgaria dropped unexpectedly and with no prior explanation on the morning of August 18.

On August 17, the closing price of the spot market from CEGH was EUR 226 (more than RON 1,100) per MWh of gas, while on the spot market in Bucharest, the price was only RON 854 per MWh of gas. The price in Bucharest was about EUR 50 per MWh lower compared to CEGH. After the imports dropped, the differential narrowed to EUR 16 per MWh, Economica.ro reported.

The CEO of the gas transport system operator Transgaz, Ion Sterian, explained that "suppliers have nominated less today compared to the previous days, about three million cubic meters less", without initially naming the suppliers. Later, however, he admitted that it was WIEE, a company indirectly controlled by Gazprom, through which, before the Ukrainian crisis, Russian gas imports for Romanian consumers were traditionally made. Sterian said that WIEE did not stop the import but only reduced it, “as it is possible that there is not enough demand from the Romanian consumers.”

Still, the volume traded on the market for the next day of the local spot market operated by BRM was 27.7 GWh, 7.3 GWh or 36% more than the day before.

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