Romania imported last year an amount of 7.468 million tons of crude oil equivalent (toe), by 872,800 toe (13.2 percent) higher than the quantity imported during the same period in 2015, according to data centralized by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).
Crude oil output totalled 3.577 million toe, by 4.3 percent (160,600 toe) lower than in January-December 2015.
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.
It’s estimated that oil production will continue its slow downward trend between 2030 and 2050 from 22 to13 TWh (1.93 to 1.15 million toe).
Moreover, Romania’s crude oil deposits are mature, with a high degree of depletion which continuing exploitation requires huge investment and operational costs. The number of crude oil deposits considered mature or depleted has been on the rise. Over the past five years, 32 mature crude oil deposits were closed as they were deemed uneconomical.