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Energy & Environment
GEO 114/2018 triggered two new infringement files against Romania; deadlines are close
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Of the 65 active infringement files of Romania at the European Commission, 15 refer to violations of EU law in the fields of environment and climate policies, and six files concern the energy field directly. Two were launched in 2019, following the adoption and implementation of the Government Emergency Ordinance (GEO) 114 of December 2018. Both refer to the impact of GEO 114 in the natural gas sector. The Commission calls on Romania to remove the barriers to natural gas exports; in ...
Stoica, BRM – Waiver of GEO 114 means a return to normal, but the effects will come slowly
Thursday, September 5, 2019
The natural gas market made a tough debut in Romania, being strongly influenced by the political factor. The market started operating a few years ago, when both the law and the secondary regulations functioned within normal parameters, says Septimiu Stoica, President of the General Meeting of Shareholders of the Romanian Commodities Exchange – BRM, during the Energy Breakfast Club – Oil & Gas – E&P, Transport and ...
Zelenskiy slams Nord Stream 2 as Ukraine seeks LNG gas from the US
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Ukraine’s president on Saturday (31 August) slammed the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline set to send Russian gas to Germany as a “threat” to Europe and welcomed moves by Kyiv to tap into US gas supplies. Volodymyr Zelenskiy made the comments beside Poland’s President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw, where he attended the ceremonies marking 80 years since the outbreak of World War II. “We hold the same position as Poland: Nord Stream 2 is unacceptable ...
Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is 75% complete
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is 75% complete, the project’s operator, Nord Stream 2AG, said in a statement. A total of 1,855 kilometers of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline were built along the bottom of the Baltic Sea in the waters of Russia, Finland, Sweden and Germany. That’s about 75 percent of the total length of the pipeline, the release said. Nord Stream 2 AG will be launched in the final quarter of the year. The pipeline has been completed in the waters of Germany ...
ANRE warns of risk of gas supply shortage this winter due to possible transit reduction
Thursday, August 29, 2019
In a document posted on its website, the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) cautions against the risk of a gas supply shortage this winter, which could leave some of Romania's consumers unsupplied, given that there are "reasonable suspicions" that the gas transit through Ukraine will be reduced."Considering that there are reasonable suspicions that natural gas supplies via Ukraine will be reduced for the 2019 - 2020 winter, there is a risk ...
Eurostat:Romania, one of the EU countries least dependent on oil imports
Thursday, August 29, 2019
Romania is among the EU states that are the least depended on the oil imports, with a 61% share of the net imports in the oil consumption, according to the latest findings on 2017 released by Eurostat. In 2017 the European Union (EU) relied on net imports for 87% of its oil consumption. This ratio, known as the oil import dependency rate, is unchanged from 2016 and two percentage points below the peak of 89% recorded in ...
Bulgarian ForMin Zaharieva: Gas inter-connector with Romania to be completed by end of 2019
Thursday, August 29, 2019
Bulgaria's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva stated on Monday that the gas inter-connector with Romania and the compression station will be completed by the end of this year.The high official mentioned that the Bulgarian Government is working very much with Romania's Government in terms of the energy and transport inter-connectivity. She mentioned talking about how important the energy diversification is for the two ...
ENEL ANNOUNCES CHANGES TO SENIOR MANAGEMENT IN ROMANIA
Thursday, August 29, 2019
Carlo Pignoloni becomes the new country manager for Enel in Romania Enel S.p.A. (“Enel”) announces that, as of today, Carlo Pignoloni, who up until now was head of Enel Green Power’s operations in Italy, becomes the new country manager of Enel in Romania, replacing Georgios Stassis who left the Enel Group to take the helm of Greece’s top utility Power Public Corporation ...
Hidroelectrica plans 10 pct IPO on Bucharest Stock Exhange in September 2020
Thursday, August 29, 2019
Romania’s most profitable state-owned company Hidroelectrica will list its shares on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE) by an IPO in September 2020, according to the company’s CEO Bogdan Badea. The company plans the listing of 10 percent of its shares. September 2020 is an official target of Hidroelectrica’s board. “We still have in mind the idea of a double listing, but it is still a ...
Romgaz wants its debt rated, before tapping external debt markets
Thursday, August 29, 2019
One of the largest two natural gas producers in Romania, Romgaz, 70% controlled by the state through the Energy Ministry, wants to have its debt rated by one of the major international specialized agencies. This would be a first step toward getting financing from abroad, including by issuing Eurobonds. The company envisages investment projects that exceed the internal financial resources, therefore it needs to identify possible ...
Parliament committee votes to repeal gas/electricity price caps, 2 pct tax on energy companies
Thursday, August 29, 2019
The Industries and Services Committee in the lower chamber of the Romanian Parliament voted to repeal the article in Emergency Ordinance 114 (OUG 114) that established caps on gas prices and electricity, as well as the article which had introduced a 2 percent tax on the turnover of companies operating in the energy sector. Through OUG 114/2018, internal gas producers’ sale price to suppliers and heating plants was capped at RON 68/MWh for ...
EEA & Norway Grants in Romania – 13 million EUR for energy efficiency projects
Thursday, August 29, 2019
EUR 13 million available for energy efficiency projects on the Romanian market under the EEA & Norway grants. The funding comes through the Energy Programme operated by Innovation Norway in Romania. SMEs and Large enterprises can get grants with a funding intensity between 30% – 80% under 2 funding streams: – Small projects seeking grants up to ...
President Iohannis says the US is waiting for Romania's legislation in energy area to be improved
Thursday, August 22, 2019
President Klaus Iohannis stated on Tuesday, în Washington, that the US is waiting for Romania's legislation in the energy area to be improved. "There is this concern and it has been brought up, but on an optimistic note. President Trump and the others attending, have expressed the expectation for this legislation to be improved in order to increase Romania's attractiveness for the US investors and I am convinced that these things can be ...
Canadian nuclear service provider opens office in Bucharest
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Canadian state-owned Ontario Power Generation set up in Bucharest a local subsidiary of its Canadian Nuclear Partners division, ...
Oltenia Energy Complex H1 pre-tax profit at rd 40 ml euro
Thursday, August 22, 2019
The Oltenia Energy Complex ended H1 2019 with a pre-tax profit of 188.98 million lei (rd 40 ml euro), more than five times the 35.12 million lei reported for the same period of the year before, the company said in a statement.The company's H1 turnover reached 1.510 billion lei, 7 percent higher compared to 1.414 billion lei in the year-ago period.EBITDA as of June 30, 2019 is 614 million lei, up 40 percent from 437 million lei as of June 30, ...
Romania's June 2019 natural gas imports, up 364 times from June 2018
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Romania's June 2019 natural gas imports were standing at 1,479,598 MWh, 364 times more than the same month last year, according to data released by the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) .In June 2018, Romania imported only 4,061 MWh.At the same time, the average price of imported gas in June 2019 was 82.08 lei per MWh, according to ANRE data, 19pct lower than that the price for Romanian gas traded on the stock exchange (101 lei per MWh), as ...
Ukraine to modernise distribution stations to import gas from Romania
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Ukraine has signed a contract with Republic of Moldova to revamp its existing gas distribution stations so that it could import gas from Romania, amid risk of Russia’s cutting off supplies, Ukrtransgaz announced. A great part of the Russian gas exports to the European Union is transiting the pipelines in Ukraine, with Ukrainians being able to access Russian gas for their own needs. However, the Russian-Ukrainian agreement on the gas transit to ...
Anti-trust body approves takeover of OMV Petrom's Petromar X Zone ops by GSP Offshore
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Romania's anti-trust regulator said on Monday it has approved the takeover by local company GSP Offshore of some operations and related assets of X-Petromar production zone owned by OMV Petrom's [BSE:SNP]. "Following a review of the transaction, the Competition Council found that it does not raise significant obstacles to effective competition in the market, in particular by establishing or strengthening of a dominant position," the ...
Romania imports more, exports less electricity January through May 2019
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Romania imported by 38 per cent more electricity in the first five months of 2019 as compared to the similar period of 2018, while it exported less by 40 per cent, according to the last monitoring report of the electric power market carried out by the National Energy Regulation Authority (ANRE).So, if January through May 2018 imports saw 1.15 TWh, in the same period of 2019 the imports climbed to 1.59 TWh. At the same time, Romania's exports dipped from 2.70 TWh ...
Romgaz considers investing in LNG terminal project in Greece
Thursday, August 22, 2019
The national gas producer, Romgaz, is considering the possibility of entering into the shareholding of the company that makes the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Alexandropolis, Greece, said Adrian Volintiru, general manager of the gas producer, on Monday. “We are analyzing the idea of entering the shareholding of the LNG terminal in Alexandropolis. There is a structure already defined, with five shareholders, and we would like a 20% ...