Romgaz steps up gas production

The Ministry of Economy has finalised a Government decision draft on the Arad-Szeged gas pipe, and Romgaz will increase production by two billion

cubic metres starting 2007, with both moves being meant to reduce reliance on imports of natural gas from Russia. “The resources we are exploiting are

declining and that is why we have drawn up this programme, to discover new deposits. Prospect works indicate a quantity of around two billion cubic metres

and we are going to set up probes,” Economy Minister Codrut Seres (photo) stated yesterday. Romgaz is the main national producer of natural gas, securing more than half of the annual national production of 12.9 billion cubic metres of gas, with Petrom as the other important supplier. Romania””s national consumption of natural gas stands at 17-18 billion cubic metres, with the

necessary amount being covered by imports (about 30%) from Russia””s Gazprom. The Economy Minister also stated Romgaz would expand its gas storage capacity this year, from 3.1 billion to 3.5 billion cubic metres. Total investments Romgaz has earmarked for this year stand at 827 million RON, up 23% from 2005. On the other hand, the Arad-Szeged gas pipe is the first to connect Romania and Western Europe, allowing for natural gas to be imported from the area of the North Sea, as a secondary source. ZF