SUPPLYING NATURAL GAS IN ROMANIA "Gazprom" sees its supplier license extended for another five years

• Company officials will visit Romania for discussions this autumn

Russian giant "Gazpom" intends to operate on the natural gas market in Romania, Petru Buzescu, the company"s lawyer in Romania said yesterday.

The representatives of "Gazprom" will meet with the Romanian authorities starting this autumn, when they will come to the country for discussions, said Mircea Hodîrnău, the representative of "Romgaz" Mediaş.

"Gazprom Marketing & Trading Limited", fully owned by the "Gazprom" group, has received a license to supply natural gas in Romania, according to information published in the Official Gazette. The National Authority for the Regulation in the Energy Sector (ANRE) has issued this license for a period of five years. The company had already owned a gas supply license which was valid for a year and has just expired, according to Petru Buzescu. He said that at first, the company had obtained a license to trade electricity in Romania.

In February 2010, "Gazprom Marketing & Trading Limited" was admitted to trade on the markets administered by the OPCOM, together with "RE Power Generation", "Obedineni Energiini Targovtsi" and "Grenerg".

The company"s lawyer said that so far, the company hasn"t been very active on the domestic electricity market.

Incorporated in 2009, "Gazprom Marketing & Trading" has been registered in London, and specializes in trading energy, natural gas, oil and Liquefied Petroleum Gas.

"Gazprom" currently supplies Romania with natural gas, through two companies: WIEE (a joint venture between "Gazprom" and German group BASF, via "Wintershall") and "IMEX Oil", a company controlled by "Conef".

In the beginning of 2010, former minister of the Economy, Adriean Videanu, was saying that "Gazprom" had expressed its availability to negotiate with the Romanian authorities the direct importation of natural gas starting in 2012.

He said at the time that the contracts that Romania concluded with the two intermediary companies would expire in 2012: "I am not interested in the agreements between the intermediaries and < Gazprom >".

After the expiration of the contracts in 2012, with WIEE and < Imex Oil >, Romania would import natural gas directly from Russia. This will definitely result in major savings".

The idea of importing natural gas directly from "Gazprom" was mentioned in the speeches of Russian officials over these past years. Even former Russian president Vladimir Putin addressed the proposal of Romania buying its natural gas directly from "Gazprom" in 2009, mentioning that the issue of intermediary companies on the Romanian market was also approached by president Traian Băsescu, in a discussion it had previously had with the Russian leader.

Also, in autumn last year, the president of the Board of Directors of "Gazprom", Alexei Miller, talked to PM Emil Boc the possibility of a contract between "Romgaz" and "Gazprom", for the direct delivery of natural gas.

On the other hand, a report published by "Gazprom" at the end of 2010, quoted by press agency Interfax, said that "the existing scheme for natural gas exports is the optimal one" and that "any change could be dangerous". The quoted source concluded: "Excluding the companies from the existing distribution chains, as well as their replacement, could be used by European consumers to change to their benefit the balance of the interests of the buyers and the sellers".

However, the company has secured a new license to supply natural gas on the domestic market, in order to perform commercial operations on this segment. The nature of those activities is not yet known, because the representatives of the Ministry of the Economy did not respond to our inquiries by the closing of the edition, concerning a possible direct delivery of gas by "Gazprom" and Romania.