Romania wants to increase its natural gas storage capacity from 3 billion cubic meters to 4 billion cubic meters by 2025 under a project financed from the European Union’s funds, minister of energy Virgil Popescu announced.

“As we set out in the government program, the storage capacity will increase and will ensure both the country’s energy security and its energy independence,” the minister said, according to Economica.net.

Europe will create its own strategic gas reserves in order to hedge against future gas shortages, European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said at a press conference on December 3, quoted by Intellinews.com.

Simson stated that the EC is working on a package of proposals to regulate the natural gas and hydrogen markets. She also added that, despite the extremely high natural gas prices in 2021, hub-linked gas prices would deliver gas more cheaply to the Continent over time than long-term oil-linked prices.

andrei@romania-insider.com