March 5 (SeeNews) - Romania's antitrust regulator said on Tuesday it has launched an investigation into the terms under which natural gas producer Romgaz [BSE:SNG] and oil and gas group OMV Petrom [BSE:SNP] are delivering gas to their own power generation plants.
Together with the National Regulatory Authority for Energy (ANRE), the Competition Council aims to find out if electricity generating plants owned by the two natural gas producers benefited from different conditions compared to those to which the two companies deliver natural gas for other consumers in Romania.
The natural gas quantities produced by the two companies represent over 94% of total domestic gas production, the council said.
The two producers have integrated structures including gas-generating units that use natural gas as fuel.
Romgaz is a producer of electricity through its Power Generation Branch (SPEE), which includes the Iernut thermal power plant with an installed capacity of 600 MW, capable to generate some 5% of national electricity production. Also, in an experimental project, Romgaz uses natural gas from two Cojocna wells as combustion material for two power generating units, each with a installed capacity of 1.5 MW.
OMV Petrom is present on the electricity market in Romania both as a producer and supplier through Brazi power plant, which has an installed capacity of 860 MW. The plant is in operation since 2012 and can provide up to about 10% of the national demand of electricity.
Shares in Romgaz traded 0.65% lower at 30.4 lei lei by 1408 CET on the BVB.
OMV Petrom shares traded 0.58% higher at 0.3495 lei lei by 1350 CET.
(1 euro=4.7506 lei)
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