The level of occupancy of gas storage facilities in Romania was 80%

CHISINAU, Sep 19 – PRIME. Romania’s gas storage facilities are 80% full, which made it possible to achieve the goal set by the European Commission, the country will have enough gas for the winter, Prime Minister Nicolae Chuca said.

“The percentage of storage of natural gas in national warehouses has exceeded 80%. Thus, Romania has reached the target set by the European Commission for November 1. As promised, we will have enough gas for the winter of 2022-2023,” Chuca wrote on Facebook*.

According to him, the country’s authorities are continuing projects already launched to ensure Romania’s energy independence, such as the extraction of natural gas from the Black Sea, which covers about 10% of the country’s consumption needs.

According to the rules approved by the EU, gas storage facilities must be filled with at least 80% by November 1 of this year. On July 20, the European Commission proposed a regulation on its reduction in the European Union, which was agreed on July 26 by EU energy ministers with a number of amendments. They then reached a political agreement to voluntarily reduce natural gas demand by 15% between August 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023. States will be able to choose ways to save money themselves. The draft regulation approved by them also provides for the possibility of issuing an “alliance warning” about security of supply. If the countries jointly approve this “warning”, demand reduction will become mandatory in the EU.

At the same time, exceptions and opportunities are provided for requesting deviations from mandatory goals when they are established in the union. In particular, exemptions apply to the island states of Ireland, Malta and Cyprus, and may be granted to the Baltic states.

After the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, Western countries began to impose sanctions against Russia, in particular, on Russian energy resources. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the policy of containing and weakening Russia is a long-term strategy for the West, and sanctions have dealt a serious blow to the entire global economy.

*The activities of Meta (social networks Facebook and Instagram) are banned in Russia as extremist.