Romania cannot sue Gazprom over gas supply disruptions

Razvan Nicolescu, the delegate minister, told radio station RFI in an interview that Romania cannot sue Russian Gazprom over any reduction of gas imports to the country, because Romania does not have direct supply contracts with the oil company, reports Agerpres newsire.

The Russian energy company has reduced gas imports to Romania last Friday by 5 percent, announcing new reductions and then resumed deliveries, but did not say what will happen starting Friday.

“This is a behavior that will lead to a loss of confidence by Europeans in Gazprom as a stable and long-term supplier of gas,” said Nicolescu.

Romanian companies have sealed gas supply contracts with two middleman businesses that have Russian ties. Imex Oil, the subsidiary of Russian gas group Conef and WIEE, a joint-venture of Gazprom and German Wintershall, are handling the gas imports of Gazprom to Romania.

The Romanian minister said it wasn’t in anyone’s interest for “energy to become in any way a political weapon.”

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According to Agerpres, Romania’s daily gas consumption currently stands at 16 mcb, while domestic production is double, while imports amount to 0.2 mcb.

The country has 2.5 bcm of gas reserves and will reach 2.8 bcm at the end of the storage period. Energy regulator ANRE estimated Romania will need 1.8 bcm of gas this winter.

Ovidiu Posirca