Greenhouse gas-wise, Romania is slightly greener than neighbouring countries due to its hydroelectric, nuclear and increasingly its wind plants.[1][page needed] The Romanian government encourages further greenhouse gas emissions reductions through strong support to nuclear power[2] as well as renewable energies in accordance with European and international experts.[3][4]
Reserves
Romania's natural resources in the year 2007 were structured as follows:
Romania has the largest oil reserves in Central and Eastern Europe (except Russia) and the second largest natural gas reserves (except Russia) behind Ukraine but twice as large than Poland but it has the smallest reserves of coal in the region.[6]
Romania's oil production in 2007 was around 120,000 bbl/d while the consumption of oil was around 230,000 bbl/d.
Romania had the largest oil production in the year 1976 when the total quantity extracted was close to 14.7 million tonnes. Since then the oil production increased and decreased regularly but in the last 10 years the production had a descending path.
Year
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
Thousand tonnes
5.000
5.200
5.541
5.650
5.702
5.810
6.029
6132
6.300
6.501
Coal
In 2006 the total coal production of Romania was 34.1 million tonnes of which:
Almost all the coal extracted in the country is used for electricity generation, bituminous coal having a 7.2% contribution in all electricity produced in Romania and lignite having a 32.2% stake.
In 2007 Romania produced a total of 12.3 billion m3 of natural gas the most important producers being Petrom with 6.3 billion m3 and Romgaz with 6 billion m3.
The natural gas consumption in 2007 was 17.4 billion m3 with the local producers providing around 70% and imports of 5.1 billion m3 supplying the rest.
Electricity
Romania electricity production by yearElectricity in Romania
In 2006 Romania produced a total of 62 TWh of electricity having an installed capacity of 17,360 MW in thermal, hydro and nuclearpower plants.
The power generation was structured as follows:
Romania has an estimated total usable hydropower of 36,000 GWh per year.[11] In 2007 the total installed capacity of hydropower plants in Romania was 6,400 MWh all of which were owned by Hidroelectrica.
In 2007, Romania produced 19.8 TWh[12] of hydropower. Romania co-owns the Iron Gate I Hydroelectric Power Station on the Danube River located on the border between Romania and Serbia, which is one of the largest hydroelectric power plants in Europe with an installed generation capacity of 2,216 MW by 6 generating units of 175 MW each on the Serbian side and 6 generating units of 194.4 MW on the Romanian side.
The two countries also jointly operate the Iron Gate II Hydroelectric Power Station with an installed generation capacity of 537 MW by 8 generating units of 27 MW on the Serbian side and 10 generating units of 32 MW on the Romanian side.
There are also plans for the construction of a second nuclear power plant in Transylvania that will either have 2 reactors of 1,200 MW each or 4 reactors of 600 MW each with an electricity generating capacity of 2,400 MW[14] and will be constructed after 2020[15]
As of 2007[update], Wind power in Romania has an installed capacity of 10 MW, up from the 3 MW installed capacity in 2006.
Romania has a high wind power potential of around 14,000 MW[16] and a power generating capacity of 23 TWh, but until 2007 there were no significant wind farms in operation.
Other renewable energy
The annual energy potential for renewable energy in Romania is:
In recent years Romania increased its production of biofuels in a sustained manner. The country uses rapeseed as a source of biodiesel. In 2007 Romania had a total cultivated area of 430,000 ha with Rapeseed and had a production of 750,000 tonnes.
There are other companies that are interested in investing in biodiesel in Romania like the Martifer Group in Portugal that will build a biodiesel refinery in Călărași County where it will invest US$120 million.
When this refinery will be at full capacity, Romania will be in the top ten biodiesel producing countries in the world.[18]
