Frost Creates New Realities on the Gas Market: Hungary Exports to Romania

During periods of severe frost, Romania faces limited transport capacity from domestic production and storage facilities. In such cases, gas imports – especially from Hungary – are necessary to cover peak consumption and maintain the balance of the system, warns the Romanian Intelligent Energy Association (AIE).

In Dumitru Chisăliță, president of the AIE‘s view, Hungary has played a key role in maintaining the balance of the domestic energy system in recent days. With the onset of cold weather, Hungary has supplied the additional gas that was needed to ensure the supply to Romania and the Republic of Moldova. “Romania has enough natural gas for a whole year, but it may not be possible to transport it quickly enough to consumers in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, especially when consumption is at its highest. If consumption exceeds 57–58 million cubic meters per day (at temperatures below –12 °C) and an additional 6–7 million cubic meters of gas per day are transported via Romania to the Republic of Moldova, we enter an inflexible zone that can only be balanced by gas imports from Hungary,” says Chisăliță.

In this case, Romania finds itself in a situation where domestic production is relatively constant and cannot be increased; storage facilities are able to supply gas, but only to a limited extent, as their capacity decreases as they are depleted, leaving imports as the only element that can be increased “flexibly.”

“It depends on how much gas can be fed into the system every day, precisely during the critical hours. This is where Romania has a structural weakness: the available hourly gas volume and not the annual resources.

With the onset of cold weather in Romania, Hungary stopped gas transit from Turkey to Hungary through Romania and began exporting gas from its own storage facilities to Romania.

Without this step, gas consumption in Romania and Moldova could not have been maintained. The dependence on Hungary is obvious. While this is an emotionally exaggerated statement and commercially speculative, it is the reality that has ensured (and is the only thing that can ensure) the gas supply to Romania and Moldova at temperatures below -12 °C,” noted Chisăliță.

“The expression “we are dependent on Hungary” sounds hysterical, but it contains a cold, precise, and operational truth: Romania may indeed be dependent on Hungary as a balancing valve from the entry point,” he continued. In his opinion, the room for maneuver is significantly limited when the Bulgaria–Negru Vodă border crossing is already at 94% capacity, while southeast Europe’s gas sources come from that direction.

“If temperatures remain below freezing for a long time and consumption exceeds the threshold, the system needs another gateway that can ensure additional flow.

Currently, Hungary is the import market that can make the difference. This is not a matter of politics, but of infrastructure and the physical and commercial flow of gas.

A gas storage facility is a tank with a tap, but like any tank, it empties as soon as you take something out of it. This is the part that the public does not understand and that many deliberately conceal,” said the AEI president.

“If the frost continues and consumption remains high, Romania could find itself in a situation where imports are no longer optional or only ”to cover peak demand,“ but become mandatory—daily and continuously. The main risk is not that Hungary ”does not want to supply gas.” Rather, it is that it cannot, or that suppliers are demanding very high prices. That is the truth that no one wants to say publicly.

No one engages in energy charity in the middle of winter, during severe frost,”

Chisăliță emphasized. He added that during the frost period, Romania not only manages household heating and thermal power plants, but also regional gas transit flows.

Via Krónika; Featured image: Facebook/Energiaügyi Minisztérium

The post Frost Creates New Realities on the Gas Market: Hungary Exports to Romania appeared first on Hungary Today.

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