While at the BRM exchange ring, 300.000 MWh were traded at a record price of 68,50 lei/MWh, one of the most important leaders of the energy supervisory authority, officially announced the institution’s support for maintaining of both stock exchanges, BRM and OPCOM, within the trading system. Thus, Florin Tobescu, Chief of Service at the International Relations Department of the National Regulatory Authority for Energy (ANRE), stated on Wednesday that the National Regulatory Authority for Energy (ANRE) supports the existence of several gas trading platforms in Romania, which would lead to the creation of an effective competition.
He was asked about ANRE’s position regarding the fact that on May 16th, the Commission for Industries from the Chamber of Deputies voted an amendment to the Law approving the Emergency Ordinance 64/2016, according to which the only licensed stock exchange for the transaction of natural gas will be OPCOM. This has triggered reactions in the market, because, at the moment, gas transactions only happened on the Romanian Commodities Exchange (BRM).
“The law is in debate, this is not the final document. Responsibility is shared: the Parliament is obliged to take a decision quickly, and we (ANRE – e.n.) have to show the reasons that can be invoked for the existence of several market operators and for having a real competition. The results of each economic operator are known”, said Tobescu, quoted by Agerpres.
“We want to have a competitive market for gas also, so that the investment can be recovered, to satisfy the investors and the customers who use these natural gas. If Romania’s electricity market is coupled with those in the neighboring countries, in respect with the natural gas, the measures that can contribute to a rapid implementation of all the provisions of the network codes. I mean the capacity allocation and the congestion solving mechanism, along with the implementation of some interconnection projects at European level, out of which BRUA is the most important, through which the reserves from the Black Sea gas will be used, contributing to the diversification of the supply sources”, Tobescu also said.
“If the market is not properly prepared, the mechanisms are not set, these resources may not be used at their true value and hence all the concerns of the institutions involved in this area. There is this principle of rational use of resources. If all these aspects are taken into account, we will not miss the reserves that we are about to confirm”, said the ANRE representative.
Earlier, at the same conference, the President of the Romanian Commodities Exchange (BRM), Septimiu Stoica, criticized harshly the members of the Commission for Industries from the Chamber of Deputies and said that BRM could sue the state in the context of what they called an unjustified withdrawal of the operating license. According to him, energy markets are currently dramatically modernizing, are becoming more sophisticated, there is no longer just the seller and the buyer, but a complex infrastructure and all sorts of trading instruments.
“You cannot believe that such a thing is happening in Romania, member of the European Union, 27 years from the Revolution. It is not real what is happening”, Stoica also said, with reference to the decision of the Commission for Industries.
Natural gas traded at minimum prices on the BRM market
On May 24th, on the electronic platforms of BRM, a minimum record price of RON 68,50/MWh was registered for gas from domestic production on the wholesale market. The amount traded was 300.000 MWh, the stock exchange officials announced. “The fact that this transaction has been concluded on the electronic platforms of BRM is an argument for trading through the commodity exchange”, indicates a release.
During the month of May, a total quantity of 11,6 million MWh was traded on the Natural Gas Ring at BRM, with a weighted average price of 72,18 lei/MWh. Since the beginning of the year until present, the quantity of natural gas traded at BRM has reached 27 million MWh and the weighted average price was 72 lei/MWh. “It is relevant that the results of the first months of 2017 show that the volume of transactions almost doubled over the previous year, accounting for about 43,6% of the national consumption estimated for this period”.
The interest of the market participants for the transactions within the BRM ring is evidenced by the upward trend registered by the quantities traded since 2013, when BRM obtained the license to conduct the centralized market management activity in the natural gas sector, the press release emphasizes. Thus, the total quantity traded in the four years, exceeded 49 million MWh.
On July 19th, 2013, BRM obtained from ANRE a license to conduct the management activity on the centralized gas market, and the first transaction took place on 21.10.2013. Since then, many economic operators have purchased natural gas on the electronic platforms of BRM, at very advantageous prices, during 1.200 auctions.
