Romania will continue to support the role of natural gas in Europe’s energy mix, alongside investments in renewables, nuclear power, energy storage and electricity networks, Cristian Bușoi, Secretary of State at Romania’s Ministry of Energy, said at the Eurogas Annual Regional Conference.
The European Union needs affordable energy not only for households, particularly in the context of energy poverty, but also for companies and industries that require predictable and competitive energy costs to invest, grow and create jobs, Bușoi said.
“We need to look a little bit more to the competitiveness of the European Union and, of course, to energy security, which became more and more important,” he said.
Bușoi said Romania would continue to advocate for increasing domestic natural gas production and developing offshore resources, including the Neptun Deep project.
“Romania will continue to advocate the role of natural gas, the increase of domestic production, the role of offshore projects, natural gas exploration and exploitation, like Neptun Deep, which is the biggest offshore natural gas project in the European Union,” he said.
He also called for a more pragmatic approach to European energy legislation, including the revision of the EU Methane Regulation.
“On the revision of the methane regulation, now the focus is to have a three-year pause for the imports, in order not to jeopardize the imports of natural gas in Europe,” Bușoi said.
The Romanian official also called for changes to provisions under the Net-Zero Industry Act, particularly those concerning carbon capture and storage (CCS).
“Romania is heavily impacted, as it’s a disproportionate quantity of CO2 emissions that we need to capture, to store. And these investments, if they need to be alone, made by the industry, are impossible,” Bușoi said.
According to Bușoi, Europe needs to develop a viable business case for carbon capture and storage rather than rely solely on obligations imposed on industry.
“We need to build a business case here. It’s not that we are against storing CO2 emissions,” he said.
He added that CCS could play a key role in determining whether natural gas can remain part of Europe’s energy system beyond 2050.
“If this technology will be mature enough and affordable enough, I see this technology as a sine qua non condition that natural gas will continue in Europe after 2050,” Bușoi said.
“If capture and storage will be affordable, if it became a business case, then we can continue to exploit and to use natural gas in our energy needs. But for this, European Union should become more pragmatic and give clearer incentives,” he added.
At the same time, Romania remains committed to accelerating investments in renewable energy, with energy storage increasingly becoming a priority, Bușoi said.
“Romania is also fully committed. We continue to accelerate investments in renewables, now very much in storage. But clearly, we need also to have this pragmatic approach,” he said.
Bușoi said Romania supports a diversified energy mix in which different technologies complement rather than compete with one another.
“We need to continue to be based on a diversified mix in which different technologies complement one another rather than compete one against another,” he said.
Romania will therefore continue to support projects involving renewable energy, nuclear power, domestic natural gas, storage, flexibility and the modernization of electricity networks, according to Bușoi.
“All of them have a role to play in building a system that can respond to different needs and different circumstances,” he said.