The parliamentary committee that investigates the activity of the energy regulator ANRE will ask the Competition Council and ANRE to investigate the gas prices in the local market.

The investigation aims to reveal whether producers have set fair prices for the gas they have sold this year after the liberalization of gas prices for household consumers, which took place on April 1, Romanian MP Iulian Iancu said yesterday. Iancu is the president of the parliamentary committee that investigates the ANRE activity. The MP made a proposal to send a letter to the two institutions.

"We want to see how the producers set the price in 2017, what arguments they had, what market instruments were used for gas transactions, and whether the price was fair, competitive and based on the rules established by ANRE,” Iancu said.

The gas price has increased from RON 60 (EUR 13) per MWh on April 1 to a current price of RON 105 (EUR 22.8), said Engie Romania's CEO Eric Stab at the same hearing.

“This winter, prices will be much, much higher than last winter, given the price trends,” he added.

OMV Petrom, controlled by Austrian group OMV, and Romgaz, which is under the state’s control, are the biggest gas producers in Romania.

editor@romania-insider.com