Romania’s Competition Council initiated an investigation related to the deliveries of natural gas local producers Romgaz and OMV Petrom have made to their own electricity production units, Hotnews.ro reported.

Under the new regulations stipulated in the emergency ordinance (OUG) 114/2018, non-residential consumers will be supplied with the same basket of local gas (sold at a capped price) and import gas (at the import price).

The competition body wants to establish whether the two companies delivered gas to their electricity generation units under the same terms offered to other customers. Also, possibly to assure that the basket of domestic-imported natural gas will be delivered from now on under same conditions to both own units and third parties.

In related news, opposition MP Virgil Popescu explained the grounds behind the Government’s decision to cap the natural gas price, a move broadly criticized as breaching the free market principles at a time when the country had just finished liberalising it. In brief, Popescu explained that the gas distribution firms were on the verge of asking the market regulator’s approval for a significant hike of the natural gas price for residential users, according to Economica.net. They had previously sold to companies the cheap gas purchased from local producers and were apparently left with no gas for households. As the price of the gas imported from Russia through intermediaries is much higher, they applied to ANRE for significant price hikes.

By OUG 114, the Government compels local producers to supply the residential consumers preferentially and also forces the distribution firms to sell non-residential consumers a mix of domestic and imported gas in the same proportions for all end-consumers.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Shutterstock)