Romanian Energy, Chemical Plants To Use Only Local Gas For 6 Mos – Draft

According to an emergency ordinance draft obtained by MEDIAFAX, the decision would allow the supply with exclusively local produced gas, at a lower acquisition price, to permit these industries survival.

 

All the consumers in Romania, respectively the companies and the population, are currently supplied with both imported and locally extracted natural gas.

 

Economy Minister Adriean Videanu said Tuesday that Romania’s natural gas law will be modified so that the local steel, chemical and petrochemical companies would be able to buy gas only from Romanian producers.

 

Videanu said the changes would be promoted through an emergency ordinance during a future Government meeting, but he gave no additional details on the reasons leading the government to enact such a decision.

 

This decision aims at supporting the companies in the local energy and chemical sectors during the economic crisis, its effect being to keep in function the chemical and power companies obtaining revenues for the state budget and to avoid the agriculture’s dependency from the imports of fertilizers, the draft reads.

 

In addition, this decision might lead to providing new jobs, in parallel with avoiding the collective layoff of 9,000 employees in the chemical plants and power producers, as most of such companies cut their activity and sacked people, due to lower market demands.

 

Romanian power producer Electrocentrale Bucuresti ELCEN, part of domestic state-owned power distributor Termoelectrica, will benefit from this decision allowing it to buy gas at lower prices.

 

Thus, in the second part of the year, ELCEN will make 63.22 million lei (EUR1=RON4.1830) savings due to purchasing cheaper gas.

 

On the other hand, gas producer Romgaz Medias, that ensures around 40% of the national gas consumption, will hike its revenues by 5% and, thus, will pay to the state budget higher taxes by RON51 million, while the additional profit tax will be 12.8% higher.