Energy Minister on declaring state of emergency: We must be prepared to act quickly

Regional and international developments are putting pressure on the supply of energy resources and their prices. In this context, the authorities must be prepared to act quickly to ensure the continuity of fuel, natural gas, and electricity supplies. Energy Minister Dorin Junghietu spoke about this today after the Government meeting at which the proposal to declare a state of emergency in the energy and hydrological sectors was approved.


“As part of the analyses and assessments that the Ministry of Energy, together with the other institutions in the field, conducts periodically, a series of risks to the supply of each type of energy resource have been identified: electricity, petroleum products, and natural gas. The assessment of these risks led to the request to initiate a state of emergency,” Dorin Junghietu said.


According to the official, no natural gas shortage is forecast, as Energocom has purchased a significant portion of the gas needed for the winter season and the gas year. At the same time, there is pressure on gas prices, influenced by the situation in the Middle East and regional developments.


“Regarding natural gas, we must be prepared to act quickly in the context of still unpredictable prices. The current purchase price is significantly higher than the one included in the tariff. Energocom purchases gas according to a TTF front-month indexed pricing formula. Accordingly, the price for the following month is known only on the 30th day of the previous month. We will know for certain only on September 30 how much the gas will cost us in October. But the truth is that, in addition to the negative deviations accumulated by Energocom during the summer, which were included in the tariff, Energocom’s cumulative deviations already exceed 180 million lei. According to the methodology, Energocom is expected to approach ANRE, which will issue a decision after completing the calculations,” the Energy Minister said.


Regarding the supply of petroleum products, Junghietu said that a significant increase in prices was being observed on the European and regional markets, due to a diesel shortage and the unavailability of petroleum products that had been coming from the Middle East.


“We are seeing a tendency for diesel prices to rise—they could reach 40 lei. In some European countries, diesel has already exceeded 2.5 euros. In Romania, yesterday morning it was 42.5 lei, or 10.8–10.9 RON per liter of diesel. Pressure on prices continues, precisely because of the volumes available on the international market. We must be prepared and have legal mechanisms that allow us to intervene quickly in a scenario in which it becomes increasingly evident that diesel will exceed 40 lei per liter, and the potential impact on the economy, citizens, and farmers would be significant. We must have mechanisms to intervene when necessary in order to mitigate this impact,” Dorin Junghietu said.


The Government today approved the decision to declare a state of emergency in the energy sector for a period of 60 days, starting on September 26. The draft decision is to be examined at the Parliament meeting, which begins at 2:30 p.m.