Romania’s natural gas consumption could increase by 50 % by 2030 if the Government plans to replace coal-based electricity generation with gas-based one, said President of the Intelligent Energy Association (AEI) Dumitru Chisalita. According to one of possible scenarios, Romania will convert its coal-fired thermal power plants to use natural gas as fuel for electricity generation and expand its gas distribution network to reach 1.8 million additional residential consumers.
Natural gas transmission system operator Transgaz estimates that Romania’s gas consumption, which is currently between 11 and 12 billion cubic meters per year, could increase by 8 billion cubic meters in mid-term. Of this amount, 4.4 billion cubic meters would be generated by new residential consumers and the rest from commissioning new cogeneration capacities. However, Chisalita believes that, under this scenario, natural gas projects in the Black Sea must be developed as soon as possible or Romania will become dependent on gas imports from Russia.
Romania is the second-largest gas producer in the European Union. It has proven natural gas reserves of 100 billion cubic meters, and most of its natural gas resources (75 %) are located in Transylvania. In the Black Sea, estimates point to a reserve of up to 200 billion cubic meters.
