Romania speeds up gas storage injections ahead of winter

Romania has suddenly increased its gas imports by almost 3 million cubic metres per day, according to Transgaz data cited by Economedia, suggesting that the country is accelerating the filling of its underground storage facilities ahead of the winter season.

Until recently, Romania was importing around 12 million cubic metres per day through Bulgaria via the Kardam/Negru Vodă entry point. The flow has since increased to 14.2 million cubic metres, while a second import route through Bulgaria, at Ruse/Giurgiu, has also seen flows increase from around 0.2 million cubic metres to 0.7 million cubic metres per day.

Domestic production has also increased, from 22.2 million to 23.2 million cubic metres per day.

In total, almost 4 million cubic metres more gas is now entering Romania's National Transmission System (NTS) than at the beginning of the week.

The increase cannot easily be explained by higher domestic consumption, given the warm weather. Nor have exports to the Republic of Moldova increased significantly, remaining at around 2.7-2.8 million cubic metres per day. Gas transit to Hungary has also remained unchanged at around 7.7 million cubic metres per day, the maximum capacity of the Arad-Szeged pipeline.

The most plausible explanation is therefore an acceleration in underground storage injections. Injection volumes have risen to more than 13 million cubic metres per day, effectively absorbing almost all of the additional imported gas.

Romania's underground gas storage facilities are currently around 78% full, approximately 10 percentage points above the EU average.

The acceleration comes despite the European Commission having relaxed the requirement for EU member states to ensure that storage facilities are at least 90% full by the beginning of the cold season. Individual countries may nevertheless have an incentive to continue filling storage facilities as much as possible.

Gas prices have risen to their highest level since 2022 and remain on an upward trend, creating an incentive to purchase and store gas now if market participants expect prices to rise further. At the same time, geopolitical risks and uncertainty over supplies remain elevated because of ongoing wars and disruptions to traditional supply routes.

For Romania, which already has storage facilities significantly fuller than the EU average, the latest increase in injections suggests that market participants are taking advantage of current availability to build an additional buffer ahead of the winter season.