Price for Romanian gas double than price on international markets, in August

The price for the Romanian gas traded on the Romanian Commodities Exchange (BRM) is double the price of the gas traded on the Vienna Exchange, namely 106.8 lei against 56.2 lei per MWh, in August, according to data sent by the BRM to AGERPRES. 

Ever since the beginning of the year, the price for the domestic gas continued to increase, while the index on the Vienna Exchange (CEGH Front Month Index) has dropped constantly. 

Thus, in January, the Romanian gas cost 92 lei per MWh in Bucharest, 101 lei in May and June, climbing up to 105 lei in July and 106.8 lei in August. 

At the same time, the price for the gas traded on the Vienna Exchange stood at 122 lei in the beginning of the year and dropped to 81 lei in May, 76 lei in June, 63 lei in July and 56 lei in August. This is also the normal trend, considering that during winter consumption is significant and the prices grow, while during the summer months there are usually recorded smaller quotations. 

However, in Romania, the market was turned upside down by the Government Emergency Ordinance (GEO) 114/2018, approved in December 2018, which capped the price for the domestic gas at 68 lei per MWh, for three years. And this happened in the context in which the market was completely liberalized in 2017. 

Later on, the normative act was modified by GEO 19/2019, with only the price for the Romanian gas for the population and power plants being capped, starting May 1, 2019. This led to the increase in the gas traded on the commodities exchange for industrial consumers. 

Both GEO 114/2018 and GEO 19/2019 are currently debated in Parliament.