Havrilet also said that natural gas exports will not be operated through pipelines, but via virtual backhaul. Havrilet added that backhaul-type transactions will allow the sale of relatively small quantities of natural gas, namely, 300-400 million cubic meters per year.
According to Havrilet, the first backhaul-type transaction is scheduled for March 2013 when state-run natural gas transporter Transgaz Medias (TGN.RO) will organize an auction for the transportation of 50,000 cubic meters of gas per day, via its own network, for a company abroad which buys natural gas from Romania and then sells it on the local market. A Romanian company can also unfold similar operations on any market in the EU. He said Transgaz can also award the contract based on “the first-come, first-served” principle.
Romania is not currently able to export natural gas because of technical restrictions, as it has a single gas pipeline which connects it to Hungary and which currently allows only gas imports. Works on the pipeline connecting Romania to Hungary were finished in 2010. Two new pipelines running from Romania to Bulgaria and the Republic of Moldova are under construction.
Romania has two large natural gas producers, namely Romgaz Medias and OMV Petrom (SNP.RO), which together cover two thirds of the country’s gas consumption and the difference is imported from Russia through intermediaries.
Building pipelines to export natural gas was one of the conditions discussed by Romania with the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission.