Petrom and Romgaz to allocate €57 mln to the gas fund

Minister of Economy and Finance, Varujan Vosganian, explained that the social gas fund is for persons with low income to help them make their natural gas payments.

“Petrom will give €30 million and the rest will come from Romgaz,” said Vosganian. He added that the total amount for the coming years remains unknown. Petrom and Romgaz representatives declined to comment on this statement.

According to Ministry of Economy and Finance officials, the social gas fund will become operational in February-March, once the state institution signs an agreement with Petrom and Romgaz.

The government decided recently to increase funds to help persons with low incomes pay their gas bills. Gas prices rose 8.5 percent since 1 February due to a rise in price of imported natural gas.

Petrom and Romgaz are the largest gas producers in Romania. Both companies have an annual production of some 6 billion cubic meters each, which covers some two thirds of national consumption. The remainder comes from Gazprom Russia