Sufficient natural gas stocks
Romania has enough reserves of natural gas to get through the winter well, said energy minister Sebastian Burduja.
Leyla Cheamil, 08.01.2025, 14:00
There are no gas supply concerns in the European Union, after the interruption of Russian gas transit through Ukraine, the European Commission said, given the reduction to approximately 70% of EU member states’ gas stocks. This is a lower level than in the same period last year, when storage facilities were more than 85% full.
According to Brussels, in the last month, a larger amount of gas has been used from to stocks, due to maintenance works that made certain power sources unavailable. Anna Itkonen, European Commission’s spokeswoman for energy, said that maintenance operations on oil platforms in Norway and at certain liquefaction stations were finalised this week. She added that maintenance works were also carried out at a storage facility in Germany.
As for Romania, the authorities in Bucharest said that the country’s natural gas stocks are currently at about two thirds of their maximum capacity, a normal level for this time of year and for this winter’s weather. The country has enough reserves of natural gas to get through the winter, said energy minister Sebastian Burduja. He made this statement amid reports in the media that gas stocks in the European Union are emptying at a fast pace. Sebastian Burduja said that Romania’s current gas stocks are more than what is needed for this cold season. He explained that Romania has some 2,000 million cubic meters of gas in its storage facilities, while consumption is, on average, 20 million a day, which means that, at the end of winter, there will still be 800 million cubic meters left.
The minister also said that Romania last year became the largest producer of natural gas in the European Union, and that, starting in 2027, the Neptun Deep project will double the country’s production. This is the largest natural gas project in the Romanian area of the Black Sea and Romania’s first deep waters offshore project. With a total volume of natural gas estimated at 100 billion cubic meters, Neptun Deep will make Romania the largest natural gas producer in the EU. Gas producers said there is huge potential for further discoveries in Romania’s territorial waters of the Black Sea, where reserves of around 200 billion cubic meters are believed to exist, and which can help diversify supply in the region.
In another move, by the end of January, the Bucharest authorities are to establish how the energy market will function beyond March 31, when a price cap and compensation scheme expires. The authorities are considering a number of possibilities for the return to the free market through a smooth and shock-free transition.
