August 24 (SeeNews) - Romanian prime minister Nicolae Ciuca said on Wednesday that the country has sufficient amounts of natural gas to meet demand during the winter.
"At the moment, we continue to pump in gas in our own warehouses, and we have managed to fill them to 70% of capacity, which is very encouraging," Ciuca said in a live streamed press conference ahead of a government meeting.
For his part, energy minister Virgil Popescu stated that it is estimated that Romania will fill its natural gas storage capacity to 80% in September.
"Gas inflows into Romania are within normal parameters," Popescu said during the same conference.
On June 23, the European Parliament approved a plan to speed up the storage of natural gas in the EU countries before winter in order to protect households and businesses in the event that Russia decides to suspend supplies in retaliation for economic sanctions over the war in Ukraine. EU countries should strive to fill their deposits at 85% by November 1 and at 90% from 2023 onwards.
Romania covers more than 70% of its natural gas consumption through internal production, while the rest of 30% is imported, mostly from Russia, data available on the energy ministry's website showed.