Expert Forum Report: to get European money for BRUA we must convince EU that we have the intention to export

The project for the interconnection of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria (BRUA) is meant to ensure the interconnection on a regional market, but we must convince the EU that we have the intention to export gas so that we get financing, stated on Wednesday Otilia Nutu, analyst for public policites in energy, at an event for specialists. ‘ In order to increase our chances to get financing for our infrastructure of gas we must give a clear signal that Romania wants to participate as a serious actor on the regional market. Romania must send a strong signal that they will really open the market to export not only for the fact that the EC will not accept that any interconnection for which they give us money might be one direction only, as it has been happening for the last five years for Arad-Szeged. We have to be part of the regional market to benefit from the competitive market from which the consumers and the Romanian tax-payers will benefit as well. The three existing sources (Petrom, Romgaz and the imported gas from Russia through Ukraine or Hungary) even if they allow competition, they are not enough for a completely liquid market and we remain isolated if we don’t connect to the European debate’, stated Otilia Nutu, at Expert Forum on the occasion of the launching of a report which refers to the interconnection of the gas market and the deregulation of the energy market. According to the document, Romania did not build a functional gas market due to the postponement of the deregulation of the market ( in the benefit of consumers with privileged relations with the state). The liquidity on trading platforms must be favoured through the introduction of trading instruments on short term and a balancing market. ‘Romania must contribute concretely,and especially profitably to the energy security of the region. In Romania we have the capacity for storage and the possibility of doubling this capacity with reasonable costs. This capacity could become easily exploitable commercially on an interconnected market. The construction of pipelines such as TAP or the GNL terminals (Croatia, Greece) is less likely and more expensive than access to the storage houses in the Black Sea to diversify the supply sources for the countries in the region’ the report says. According to the quoted source, once we drop consumption in Romania, the domestic producers risk to have a real problem to put to value the gas on the domestic market for the years to come, which would reduce the collections from taxes to the budget. This will discourage new investments in exploitation and production and access of new producers of gas, such as Amromco or Stratum Energy who at present have significant possible gas exports, would not limit the access of Romanian consumers to energy. ‘Romania should present the necessary efforts to support the domestic gas production and to stimulate the industry of gas and oil, one of the biggest employers in Romania’ the report says. According to the report, the priorities of Romania in the European debates regarding the construction of the gas market must be strengthened the Romanian network (priority CESEC) the interconnection with Bulgaria plus compression stations ( investment in BRUA and in Eastring, but it is not priority CESEC), the interconnection with Hungary plus compression stations (investment in BRUA and connection with the North=South corridor, but it is not CESEC priority), the connection of the storages in the Black Sea ( at present only ‘conditioned’ priority,) the interconnection with Moldova – the finalisation of the project Iasi-Ungheni with compression stations and the extension of the pipelines capacity. CESEC is a working group made up in February 2015 from 15 countries in Central and Eastern Europe (EU and member states of the Energy Community).