Bogdan Tudorache

In the first three months of this year, Romania paid the highest price in the European Union for Russian natural gas imports, says Cristina Pruna, MP of USR.

“The price, measured by the European Commission at the border, shows the malfunctioning of the Romanian natural gas market. We do not have enough sources of diversification of imports, domestic production does not fully cover the need for consumption, so we are captive to Russian gas. For this state of affairs, we must thank all the patriotic gods who guided the public policies in the Romanian energy sector and fueled the public with theories of the conspiracy that foreigners come and steal our resources. We have natural gas, but we keep them in the ground, giving the Russians an unhoped for advantage in Romania!”, says Pruna, on her social page.

Romania imported in the first four months of 2019 about 2.803 million toe of gas, 5.6% (147.600 toe) more than in the similar period of 2018, according to local statistics by INS. At the same time, production declined slightly, by 0.4%, to 1.1 million toe.

DG Energy’s first-quarter statistics, on the other hand, show a 3% drop in output, while EU production declined by 8%.

Local prices for border import were among the highest, with Romania paying about 27 euros per MWh of gas, while in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe average prices ranged between 19 and 23.7 euro per MWh, on different components (price at the border EPB2, hub), according to EC.