Gas imports up by 353 times this year following GEO 114

Romania has imported gas of almost 1.2 million MWh  in May this year, 353 times more as against the same month in 2018, when the gas imports stood at 3,353 MWh, according to statistics by the National Regulatory Authority for Energy (ANRE).

In April 2019 the imported gas had been 100 times more than in April 2018.

The average price of the import gas in May 2019 stood at RON 89 /MWh, 12% less than the price of the Romanian gas traded on the exchange (RON 101/MWh).

The National Regulatory Authority for Energy (ANRE) decided last Monday to reduce the gas prices on regulated regime by over 5% for all households, as of July 1.

The emergency ordinance 114 adopted by the Government in December 2018 fixed a price of RON 68 per MWh for the next three years for the entire domestic gas production.

However, the Government amended the emergency ordinance GEO 114 in March this year, with one of the effects being that Robor index had been replaced by a new indicator exclusively calculated based on the interbank transactions.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Energy Ministry has underlined that the growing gas imports lately is actually for Romania’s benefit, considering the prices are now much lower than in the winter.

“Our focus has been lately on filling the underground natural gas supplies for prices as good as possible. Therefore, in mid-July, Romania had stored underground 1.535 billion of cubic metres of gas, as against 1.237 billion in the same period last year. On the other hand, the minimum mandatory stock for the next winter had been increased, compared to 2018, by 10 percent more, up tp 2.18 billion cubic metres of gas“, the Energy Ministru stated.