National gas consumption down by 8% in Romania, while imports halved in 2013

The estimated national consumption of natural gas dropped by over 8 percent in Romania last year, while imports halved, according to Mariana Gheorghe, CEO of oil and gas company Petrom. The negative results were mainly triggered by the reduced industrial demand. The demand of natural gas in Romania was of 12.5 billion cubic meters, of which imports amounted to 1.5 billion cubic meters, reports local news agency Agrepres. Petrom group recorded last year consolidated sales of 4.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas, slightly up from the year before. For this year, the Petrom officially projected a decrease in gas consumption of several hundred million cubic meters, but added that estimations are difficult considering consumption depends on the weather, industrial demand and developments in the chemical industry. According to the estimations presented by Mariana Gheorghe, Romania’s national consumption of electricity also dropped by five percent year-on-year in 2013, while the decline in production stood at two percent. However, exports more than doubled last year, partially compensating for the market decline. Romanian oil and gas company Petrom has managed to surpass the EUR 1 billion profit threshold in 2013, when it upped its net profit by 22 percent year-on-year. The company’s net profit for the whole year was of EUR 1.09 billion, while its net profit in the fourth quarter of the year was of EUR 262 million. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo source: sxc.hu)