December 30 (SeeNews) - Romanian natural gas producer Romgaz [BSE: SNG] expects its output to drop by an annual 1.8% in 2022, mainly due to a natural decline in deposits and the impact from the war in Ukraine, it said.
Romgaz forecasts a drop in its natural gas production to 4.937 billion cu m in 2022 from 5.03 billion cu m last year, it said in a production update earlier this month.
Natural gas production for 2022 was impacted by the natural decline of deposits and by the suspension of wells in the Snagov area due to problems with sand floods, Romgaz explained. According to Romgaz, 90% of the commercial deposits exploited by the company are mature and depleted, with an accentuated annual natural production decline of 7 to 13 percent.
The estimated drop in output this year was also due to the global energy crisis and the war in Ukraine which disrupted supplies of materials and equipment needed for production.
Romgaz also said that it plans to invest some 500 million lei ($108 million/ 101 million euro) to drill nine exploration wells at the Caragele Deep perimeter by 2024 and that it expects to start hydrocarbon production from the new wells during the first half of 2024.
However, Romgaz noted that the output from the Caragele perimeter, which has 43 drilled wells and two compressed natural gas (CNG) stations, dropped by an annual 40% in 2022 due to sand floods.
Shares in Romgaz traded 0.80% higher at 37.85 lei as at 1205 CET on Friday on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
(1 euro=4.9474 Romanian lei)
SNGN Romgaz SA is among the biggest companies in SEE. You can download our SEE Top 100 ranking
here or subscribe to our free Top 100 newsletter
here