Romania’s net gas imports in H1 2024 amounted to 834,800 million tons of oil equivalent (toe), 19.9 percent up (+138,800 toe) from the same period of the previous year, shows data released on Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).

The domestic production of natural gas in the reporting period totaled 3.8 million toe, up 1.3 percent (+48,600 toe) year-over-year.

According to estimates by the National Economic Strategy and Forecasting Board (CNSP), Romania’s natural gas production will rise at an average annual rate of 1.7 percent over 2024 – 2027, after going up 1.4 percent in 2023.

In its latest Energy Balance Forecast, CNSP predicts a 0.6 percent increase in Romania’s gas production to 7.675 million toe in 2024, with the upward trend set to continue by an advance of 1.5 percent in both 2025 and 2026 (to 7.79 million toe and 7,907 toe, respectively), and of 3.4 percent (to 8.176 million toe) in 2026.

Natural gas imports are projected to grow by more than 10 percent in 2024 and then switch to a downward trend that will speed up at the horizon of 2027 (-6 percent), in step with the advance of production as new capacities will be commissioned, but also as a result of the steady transit to foreign markets.

Thus, imports are estimated to reach 2.392 million toe in 2024 (+11.1 percent), 2.211 million toe (-7.6 percent) in 2025, 2.150 million toe (-2.7 percent) in 2026, and 2.022 million toe (-6 percent) in 2027.

AGERPRES