Natural gas: An essential source of energy in the Romanian economy

The Romanian natural gas industry has existed since the early 1900s. The share of natural gas in Romania's current energy consumption is around 40%. The state gas company Romgaz operates ca 150 gas fields and 3,600 producing wells, but only 20% of annual production is being replaced by new discoveries. Declining gas production is caused by such factors as improper well completion, delayed workovers, water encroachment, and sand consolidation. Romgaz also transports imported natural gas from Russia and provides transportation services to natural gas importers in neighboring countries. The gas transmission network comprises ca 11,000 km of pipelines and 82,800 kW of installed compressor capacity. The distribution system supplies gas to over 2.5 million customers over some 15,000 km of pipeline. Future projects include expansion of production and increasing recoverable reserves, modernization of equipment, constructing an interconnecting pipeline with the Ukraine, installing a liquefied natural gas terminal on the Black Sea, rehabilitating the gas transmission grid, and installing supervisory control and data acquisition systems. The gas consumption pattern of 1990 (57% industrial, 31% power generation, 8% households) is expected to change with a substantial increase in household and commercial supplies, as well as replacement of gas-fired generation with hydroelectric and nuclear generation. A governmental restructuring strategy is being implemented to enhance oil and gas production, to improve operational efficiency of the sector, and to address environmental pollution. Components of the strategy are outlined