Romania imported in the first five months of 2019 an oil quantity of 3.44 million tonnes of oil equivalent (toe), 0.6% (21.700 toe) less than that of the similar period of 2018, according to centralized data by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).

The domestic crude oil production was of 1.38 million toe, 0.5% (7.600 toe) below the one from January to May 2018. According to the Romanian Energy Strategy, crude oil production in Romania is on a downward slope, with a low substituting level, due to the high degree of depletion of the deposits. Increased recovery is possible, but investment efforts, which are not negligible, require packages of stimulating economic and fiscal measures, according to Agerpres.

Romania’s proven crude oil reserves will be exhausted in about 16 years at a consumption of 3.4 million tons per year.