By order of the Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, the Inspection Service within the Ministry of Energy conducted a verification mission of the operator Filiala de Înmagazinare Gaze Naturale Depogaz Ploiești SRL. The inspection aimed to assess compliance with the contracting procedure for storage services, the commercial implications of decisions on contractual partners, adherence to service provision contracts, and compliance with the extraction program from January 2024 to the present.
“From the analysis of centralized data regarding the quantities of natural gas extracted in November 2024, it was found that 31 storage service beneficiaries (out of a total of 65 Depogaz clients) acted similarly by requesting gas extractions exceeding the agreed extraction program. This was despite contractual obligations requiring adherence to extraction programs established through contract addendums, which allowed variations of only +/-15%,” the report states.
Regarding the quantities of natural gas extracted from storage facilities in November, seven major beneficiaries (out of Depogaz’s 65 clients) extracted a combined total of nearly 4.687 million MWh, representing 89.20% of the total extracted volume of over 5.254 million MWh that month.
“Except for two beneficiaries who adhered to the extraction schedule for November, five major beneficiaries extracted significantly larger amounts of natural gas, exceeding the agreed extraction limits for that month by between 96,600 MWh and 531,902 MWh—ranging from 55.65% to 108.86% above the contractual margin of +/-15%. The surplus gas extracted in November, relative to the contractually agreed extraction amounts, accounted for 88.87% of the total excess extraction from storage facilities (1,931,949.44 MWh) for that period,” the document further states.
The Control Body representatives concluded that, following the verification of storage contracts signed with major beneficiaries, “it can be unequivocally determined” that the contractual provisions were not respected, particularly the extraction programs established in the addendums.
According to the report’s conclusions, from November 2024 to January 2025, more than 75% of the total monthly agreed extraction volume from Depogaz storage facilities was concentrated among four major beneficiaries.
The total quantity of natural gas extracted from storage in November (5.254 million MWh) exceeded the contractually agreed extraction program volume for that month (3.322 million MWh) by 58.15%, or approximately 1.932 million MWh.
Beneficiaries – economic operators had the right, according to the contracts concluded with Depogaz SRL, to request the modification of the Extraction Programs, in justified cases, at least two days / five calendar days before the start of the extraction month. The provider – Depogaz SRL had the opportunity to formulate observations regarding the beneficiaries’ requests.
“For the reference month November 2024, there were no written requests from economic operators to modify the extraction programs submitted to Depogaz SRL, at least two days / five calendar days before the start of the extraction month”, the report states.
According to the cited source, Depogaz SRL’s fault lies in the fact that it did not file a written opposition, pursuant to the provisions of art. 20 of the contracts, to the requests of economic operators to extract excessive quantities of gas in relation to the contractual provisions (similarly to the Notifications sent in January and February 2025 by economic operators when Depogaz SRL no longer extracted from the deposits the quantities of gas requested by them).
Also, “an inactivity, a lack of reaction by Depogaz SRL” was noted, determined by the faulty interpretation of the contractual clauses and/or the failure to observe the provisions of the applicable Regulation.
“It can be appreciated that, through the way in which Depogaz SRL and some economic operators acted in November 2024 and, subsequently, in January – February 2025, a disruption of the gas market in Romania was created. Both Depogaz SRL and some beneficiaries of storage services violated the provisions of the Regulation on the programming and operation of underground natural gas storage facilities approved by ANRE Order no. 141/December 22, 2021,” the report also says.