To Alexandru Ursu
The official explained that, technically speaking, it is difficult to buy cheap gas, it is hard to store, Romania does not want to help Moldova, and it is dangerous to store it in Ukraine—so it is easier to purchase expensive natural gas.
“We don’t really have the capacity, as a country, to buy gas when it seems cheap. Even when we know it’s cheap today. Even if we know it’s the cheapest it’s been all year. What are we supposed to do with that gas?
I want to point out: are the storage facilities in Ukraine really safe? Can we afford to store large volumes there? We can see that international traders don’t store gas there—even if they have a transit discount and special corridors—they avoid it. I don’t think we can afford to take that risk.
That leaves Romania. It has a storage capacity of 3.3 billion cubic meters. We need 900 million. Is Romania willing to provide that to us? No. Plus, there are restrictions on gas withdrawal there—a maximum of 30 million [cubic meters] per day. Even if we inject gas there, we won’t be able to withdraw it when we need it, and we’ll end up with a shortage.
These are technical issues, but believe me, it’s not that simple to inject gas. We have no storage facilities, no production sources—so what’s left for us to do? Just try to closely monitor market developments,” explained Alexandru Ursu.
At its meeting on August 21, 2026, the Board of Directors of the National Energy Regulatory Agency (ANRE) approved a 41% increase in the natural gas tariff—to 20.30 lei per cubic meter.
