Romania upped its natural gas imports in January this year by 71.8 percent, having imported some 219,400 tonnes of gas equivalent petrol (tep), according to the country's Statistics Institute.

In the first month of the year, local natural gas production stood at 756,600 tep, 1.6 percent smaller than in the same period of 2012.

The country's proven natural gas reserves were of 100 billion cubic meters end 2011, which was 500 billion cubic meters less than in 2010. For comparison, the worldwide gas reserves were estimated at some 208 trillion cubic meters.

editor@romania-insider.com