We will have gas in the winter, declared, in an interview granted to AGERPRES, the minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja.

„I wish that Romanians do not tremble either from the cold or from the fear of bills. We have a record percentage, I can tell you, of 77 pct, these are today’s data, and compared to the similar period last year, we are approaching the value of one billion normal cubic meters more than Romania stored a year ago.

„If the winter will be very hard, we have the option of activating a contract that Romgaz has with Azerbaijan, where we have a reserve of one billion normal cubic meters and we can call on these gas to reach Romania and support a possible deficit in this area,” said the minister.

* * * The Tarnita-Lapustesti project is a strategic project for Romania, says the minister, „because we have increasing problems from the perspective of balancing the system, because new capacities are being added in the area of green energy production – solar, wind – production capacities with high volatility, when the sun is shining, for example, it produces quite a lot. We have the prosumers, which are about 900 megawatts installed today, towards a gigawatt, and I think next year we will be heading towards 1.5 gigawatts And then, when you have these peaks, you need to balance, because consumption is not always in balance with production. „Based on a serious feasibility study, which we want to have ready at the end of 2024, the investment can enter the next stage, to contract the services of detailed design, let’s say, and the execution of the work,” stressed Burduja. „In the 2031-2032 horizon, units 3-4 at Cernavoda nuclear power plant should be ready. They produce in the strip and then you have much less flexibility in the system to adjust this production to keep it in balance with consumption. And that’s why we will be able to use Tarnita-Lapustesti and maybe other projects of this type to ensure balance in the system and the security of the national energy system,” added the minister.

* * * „We will have (the infrastructure necessary to take over this gas, from Neptun Deep, ed. n.) until 2027. This is the commitment that Transgaz has made, because otherwise not only will we not be able to connect this gas in the national transport system, but we also need to take it to the rest of the country. So we need that part from Tuzla to Podisor, and Transgaz also announced the start of this investment, with completion by 2027, precisely to be able to take over the volume of gas, plus the part of the Black Sea handled by OMV together with Romgaz 50%-50%. Practically, the entire investment project is integrated and we are talking about an investment of over 4 billion euros. „Of course, the potential there is colossal for Romania. It means at least 100 billion normal cubic meters, up to, maybe, 200 billion. At the moment, Romania annually needs about 19-20 billion, normal cubic meters. So we are discussing the assurance of independence from this perspective for Romania and even for a part of Europe, with the possibility of making Romania the leader of the gas production market in the European Union. We will practically be in the first place with these additional quantities,” said the minister. * * *

Regarding the abandonment of the energy compensation scheme for domestic and non-domestic consumers, the minister says that „any change we will make, we will make it very transparent, settled, because unlike previous years, now we have time to think about these things” and „given that the prices in the market have fallen, if we are to adjust this scheme, we will do it in a phased, transparent way and in consultation with all the components of the chain”. * * *

About Hidroelectrica’s listing, Sebastian Burduja says „here, this success shows us that it is possible and that an important company from the Romanian energy sector can be listed only on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. It was an objective of the Romanian state that this listing take place only in Bucharest, not in London, as some wanted. It turned out that the interest of investors was exceptionally good, and then we can also come up with secondary listings for the other companies in the next period, as long as there is an appetite from the market”.