Romania imported, in the first 11 months of 2023, a quantity of usable natural gas of 1.995 million tons of oil equivalent (toe), 2% higher compared to the same period last year, according to data centralized by National Institute of Statistics (INS).

The domestic production of natural gas exceeded, in the period January-November 2023, 6.841 million toe, being 1.7% above that of the first 11 months of 2022 (+117,500 toe), according to Agerpres.

According to the estimates of the National Strategy and Forecasting Commission, natural gas production is estimated to rise at an average annual rate of 3.6%, in the period 2023-2026, after a decrease of 1.1% (to 7.343 million toe) in 2022 .

In the last Forecast of the energy balance, CNSP predicts for 2023 an increase in gas production by 5.6% (to 7.755 million tons of oil equivalent), for 2024 by 2.3% (to 7.935 million toe), for 2025 by 2, 7% (to 8.15 million toe) and for 2026 with 3.8% (to 8.455 million toe).

As far as natural gas imports are concerned, a sharp decrease of 23.1% is forecast for 2023, a trend that will be maintained until 2026, with an average annual rate of 2.2%.

Thus, for this year, imports of 1.845 million toe are estimated, for 2024 to 1.79 million toe (minus 2.8%), for 2025 to 1.755 million toe (minus 2.1%) and for 2026 to 1.725 million toe (minus 1.8%).