On Thursday, only 2.1 million cubic meters of imported gas was allocated to cover Romania’s current consumption, 2.6 million less than the amount allocated for the same volume on Friday (4.7 million cubic meters).
The increase in the amount of imported gas remaining on the domestic market is the result of a decrease in exports. Compared to the previous day, exports to Moldova decreased from 5.6 million cubic meters to 5.4 million cubic meters, to Hungary from 2.8 million cubic meters to 1.1 million cubic meters, and to Ukraine from 2.6 million cubic meters to 1.1 million cubic meters.
The reduction in exports may have a meteorological and/or commercial explanation. Clear skies in the region may contribute to an increase in renewable energy production, resulting in lower demand for gas for power generation. However, this effect is not currently observed.
In addition, the gas price on the day-ahead market operated by the Romanian Commodity Exchange (BRM) has reached its highest price in the last 2.5 months, which may discourage companies from neighboring countries and traders from exporting gas.
The average price of gas with delivery reached 183 Romanian lei (705 Moldovan lei)/MWh on Friday. The last time a higher price was recorded on October 22, 2025: 189 RON (728 MDL) /MWh.
At the same time, a cyclone from Europe (via Ukraine and Hungary) is currently coming to Moldova, bringing with it extremely low temperatures for our region. This inevitably leads to an increase in gas consumption in these countries.
Accordingly, BRM traders raise gas prices. This affects Moldova, taking into account the fact that the only ways of gas import to Moldova now pass through Romania, and the republic currently has no long-term contracts for the supply of blue fuel at fixed prices. There are only some forward contracts, the terms of which are not disclosed.
The trend for consumers in Moldova is not good. We can only hope that the bad weather will not last long, and the prices and import volumes will return to the previous limits. Especially taking into account that ANRE is to approve a new tariff for natural gas for the next year (until February 2027) by the end of the month.
