Romania submits national emergency plan on natural gas supply

Romania submitted its national emergency plan on the natural gas supply on Thursday, a press release from the Ministry of Energy, SMEs and Business Environment (MEIMMMA) shows. The plan was sent to the European Commission (EC) and the relevant authorities in Hungary and Bulgaria were notified, in accordance with the EU Regulation no. 994/2010.

The EU regulation aims at guaranteeing the preparedness of the EU member states for any supply disruptions and stipulates that every country should have adopted its plan by December 3 2012. In November 2013, the EC sent Romania a formal notice on the country’s failure to produce the compulsory plan. In November 2014, since Romania was still in non-compliance with the said Regulation, the Commission issued a reasoned opinion. On Thursday, June 17, the EC has sued Romania at the European Court of Justice for still not having adopted an emergency plan in compliance with the aforementioned EU Regulation on the security of the natural gas supply.

On June 19, MEIMMMA has issued a press release stating that it has finalized the plan and that it will pass and publish the final form once it has received answers from the EC and the neighbouring countries. National emergency plans set the measures and procedures enforced in case of gas supply interruptions and should be well-coordinated with the neighbouring member states.

Romania’s plan states that the natural gas supply is guaranteed by the high internal natural gas production quota, which is up to 90 percent. Legal provisions such as the law no. 123/2012, concerning electricity and gas distribution and the compulsory stocks of natural gas made for the winter period also ensure emergency measures should the supply of natural gas from Russia be interrupted.

Natalia Martian

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