Secretary of State George Niculescu from the Ministry of Energy gave assurance that Romania can manage with the 15pct cut in gas consumption recommended by the EU, also mentioning that, for now, this is a voluntary action and that there are "some flexibilities" taken into account in this reduction, such as the storage filling levels and the consumption of the non-energy industry.
"Romania has always supported energy independence, we have always wanted and we still want to diversify our sources of natural gas and electricity supply. Therefore, this voluntary reduction, basically, considering Romania's posibilities today, I think we can make it, we can manage with this voluntary cut in consumption. There are some flexibilities that are taken into account in operating this cut, in the sense that we have the storage filling level, which filling level (...) can lead to a reduction from the 15pct cut recommended and, also, we are also taking into account the consumption of the non-energy industry, as it is presented on the Eurostat website, another quantity of natural gas that can be reduced from this 15pct," said Niculescu, after the government meeting.
Asked if this voluntary 15pct cut would be imposed in Romania, Niculescu stated that "everyone is free to proceed as they see fit, as long as it is a voluntary action."
According to him, the Regulation that stipulates the emergency plan will be modified by October 31, alongside the role and responsibilities of companies operating in the natural gas field in Romania, the individual activities of the entities involved in the prevention of crisis situations.
Asked if the Government will ask companies to reduce consumption from August 1, Niculescu reiterated that it is not a mandatory measure at the EU level.
According to the Secretary of State, a recommendation for efficient consumption of electricity or natural gas is "a thing of common sense."
The member states of the European Union approved, on Tuesday, a plan for the coordinated reduction of gas consumption, in order to help Germany and reduce its dependence on Moscow, after a new drastic drop in Russian deliveries through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, the Czech Presidency of the EU Council informs. AGERPRES