The Ministry of Energy is currently working on the plan regarding the 15% reduction in gas consumption and is waiting for the calculation method from the European Commission, but at the moment there are no reasons for this reduction, said on Wednesday, at the briefing at the end of the Government meeting, the Minister of Energy, Virgil Popescu.
“Obviously we are working on this at the Ministry of Energy, but here we should make some distinctions. On July 26, the Council of Energy Ministers approved this new European regulation which, starting on August 1, gives each member state the voluntary right to a possible 15% reduction. From voluntary to mandatory, it will go under the conditions in which the European Commission will take a decision to raise the alert level at the European level, if 3 member states request this from the European Commission. So we are not talking of a 15% reduction, at this moment we see no reason to reduce by 15%,” said Virgil Popescu, according to Agerpres.
He emphasized that, at present, the degree of filling of gas deposits has exceeded 59% and reached 59.48%, respectively 1.82 billion cubic meters.
“In the same regulation it is said that there are some degrees of flexibility, that is, if the intermediate targets are exceeded, our intermediate target on August 1 was 46%, this difference is subtracted from a possible reduction. It is also subtracted from a possible reduction in the amount of natural gas related to non-energy customers in 2021. We do not see at this moment why we should have a reduction, as it is a voluntary reduction. So this plan is being worked upon, we are still waiting from the European Commission calculation methodology, because it was not specified in the regulation. Next, in 2-3 weeks the European Commission will send the member states how to calculate these reductions.(…) We work in parallel, we are in permanent contact with the representative office in Brussels, with our Energy attachés and with those from Digi Energy and we work together”, explained the Minister of Energy.