Romania imported in the first eight months of this year an amount of 4.598 million tons of crude oil equivalent (toe), by 294,300 toe (6.8 percent) higher than the quantity imported during the same period in 2014, according to data centralized by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).
Oil production totalled 2.522 million toe, by 0.6 percent (15,000 toe) lower than in January-August 2014.
Last year, oil imports totalled 6.727 million toe (up by 27 percent as compared to 2013).
Oil production increased in 2014 to 3.788 million toe, being by 2 percent lower in than the previous year.
According to the Energy Strategy for Romania 2015 – 2035 draft, Romania’s oil reserves are limited, while the discoveries during the past 30 years can be categorized as modest, except for some recent signals coming from the shallow waters of the Black Sea.
Although it is facing a natural decline of oil production, Romania continues to be the fourth oil producing country in the European Union, namely the fifth country in Europe. Against the European production, national oil production represents approximately 2 percent of Europe’s and 6 percent in the EU’s.
According to statistics released recently by British Petroleum, Romania’s confirmed oil reserves amount to 600 million barrels, compared to one billion barrels at the end of 1994.