Natural gas prices will certainly not increase until next year, on March 31, there will be a cap in several margins, by the end of next week, most likely, the whole legislative framework will be developed to put this mechanism on the market, Energy Minister Bogdan Ivan told a press conference.
”Îollowing the technical discussions that we have had since September last year with the entire market, with specialists in the field, after an agreement at the level of the Romanian Government, we are at the stage where people at home must know that natural gas prices will certainly not increase until next year, on March 31, 2027. (...) I do not want to go into extremely technical details, which I will present immediately after we amend the normative acts next week, because we are talking about a very complex legislation. I can only tell you the following: the moment you cap the price from the producer plus the whole chain, up to the final consumer, it is obvious that you have some margins where they can come up with different tariffs, but you make sure that the final price, regardless of how these margins are set, will not exceed the price that is paid today. (...) Next week we will have more technical discussions and meetings and by the end of next week, most probably, the whole legislative framework will be drafted to put this mechanism in the market. (...) We can say generically, for the understanding of all the people at home, that there will be a cap in several margins and the price will remain the same as today”explained the Energy Minister, quoted by Agerpres.
He pointed out that this comes at a time when the market is preparing very much for the removal of the cap and to create internal mechanisms and especially after there will be an additional allocation of about 8 billion cubic meters of gas in the Romanian market, gas that will come from the Neptun Deep perimeter.
„That means we will have more liquidity in the market, we will automatically have more gas, the price will fall naturally down the chain. The very big advantage of this mechanism is that the price will be able, under competitive market conditions, to fall. In other words, we should not just talk about a ceiling limiting the increase, but also about a fall in the price, given that we are already seeing a very clear trend in the market, both for domestic and industrial consumers, of a fall in the price of natural gas”added Ivan.
Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said on Wednesday that between April 1 this year and the end of March 2027 there will be a transitional period with a gas price that will no longer be capped, but will be a managed price for domestic consumers, so that it will be stable.
Ilie Bolojan explained that the gas price for households will be regulated throughout the entire chain - from the producer to the transporters, distributors and suppliers, noting that „the price will remain stable”.
„One important issue is the administrative gas price cap. As you know, we need to take steps to remove the gas price cap, but at the same time we also need to protect Romanian citizens from the possible inflationary spike that could occur as a result of uncontrolled gas price increases. As it is also a difficult year, it is normal to take these measures, bearing in mind that, from 2027, Romania will have a major advantage in the sense that, as I said, we will have additional gas resources in the Black Sea, which should lead to a fall in gas prices and remove any problems with supply in winter, during periods when we have frost”Bolojan said at a press conference at the Victoria Palace.
According to the Prime Minister, this means that 2027, when there will be this gas overproduction, would be a more appropriate year to liberalize the gas price.
„We therefore propose that, between April 1 this year, the end of March and the end of March 2027, there will be a transitional period, with a price that will no longer be capped, an administered price for household consumers. What does that mean? It means that we will regulate prices for households throughout the chain, from producers, to transporters, to distributors, to suppliers, that means that the price will remain stable throughout the year and there will be no further changes until next spring. The gas price will be administered for all household consumers and for all CETs for the quantity used for heat generation, for other activities there will be no cap, but as the data is today, the majority of consumers in the economy buy gas at prices that are below the cap”said Bolojan.