Media appearances

The discussion on Sunday, May 31, at B1.ro about the #VerticalCorridor and regional interconnection. With Isac Mihai, Cătălin Gabriel Done, Alice Marius Craciun. Dialogue moderated by Razvan Munteanu.

This morning, at Digi24, about the situation at the pump (gasoline more expensive than diesel). Normally, in Romania where we have a high consumption of diesel and low consumption of petrol, the price of diesel is higher than that of petrol as we import diesel and export petrol respectively. It is related to the structure of the car park, which is dominated by diesel vehicles. What we see now in the market (the price reversal) reflects the lower quotes for diesel in the Mediterranean area – a result of a micro-relaxation of the diesel market (part of the car consumption switched to electric, China reduced its crude oil imports) plus the price of the barrel which reflects a lot of optimism (the prospect of a peace agreement this summer).

Sunday, May 24, together with Christian Năsulea, in the show moderated by Paula Rusu, from Euronews Romania, answering some questions about Doicesti, Hormuz and the Iernut power plant. Too little time to go into depth, but enough to point out a few ideas.

An intervention on the subject of the SMR from Doicesti, today on B1.ro in Gabriela Mihai's show. In short: yes – the project is not cheap, yes – we can live without it, yes – many other things can be done with this money. The question is different: do we want Romania to be part of a new industry? Do we want to have the research-development-innovation (CDI) infrastructure and to focus on the themes of the future? Do we want to be integrated into the value chains of new industries (or at least… have a tangent with them) and participate in or host cutting edge projects? Or, as a state, we only focus on solving the basic problems, specific rather to the last century (water-sewer, asphalting, so bare necessities). So, backward-looking or forward-looking? There is a lot to say, but I think that if we follow the logic of "what we can afford", we would not even end up in NATO/EU. Therefore, if the project can be rethought in such a way as not to put too much pressure on the public money (eg: to attract international partners and external funding), it should not be thrown into the trash. Even if it went to the left in Romania, the project has its merits (technology is not in discussion) and should not be politicized. On the contrary, it could really be a good opportunity for Romania to position itself strategically in a new branch of the nuclear industry, of course if Romania wants something like that. See more

This morning's dialogue on Digi24 about electricity prices in Romania and the shortage of aviation fuel in Europe. Through demande response you can pay part of the demand, but you cannot solve the problem of investments not realized on time, whether we are talking about new production capacities, or whether we are talking about storage capacities (yes, this is when the management of the most profitable Romanian state company is more concerned with management bonuses than investments. See today's article from ZF, in which Hidroelectrica is criticized for "the modest investment activity of the company, but the generous remuneration of managers"). Europe suffers from structural vulnerability, that is, European refineries do not produce enough aviation fuel: 1.6 million barrels/day consumption (OECD Europe) vs 1.1 Mb/day production. The difference of 500,000 bbl/day is imported, mainly from the Middle East (2/3). Higher US imports of Type A jet fuel help during this period, but do not fully offset the shortfall. Therefore, part of the application will have to be destroyed. Both companies and travelers participate in this process. Companies – by optimizing flights, consolidating, giving up shorter routes (Lufthansa is the leader with 20,000 canceled flights), travelers – as a precaution, by not buying plane tickets this summer to avoid the unpleasant situation in which their flights are canceled and their vacation is compromised.

Yesterday, May 5, the day the Bolojan government fell, I participated in the "Energy Forward 2026" event organized by Adevărul, where we talked about the sensitive things that are bothering us related to the current energy crisis:
– the implications of the crisis in the Persian Gulf for the global oil and liquefied gas market. An aspect perhaps too little emphasized is that in this crisis, we have an OPEC founding state (Iran) that bombed the energy infrastructure of another OPEC founding state (…Saudi Arabia) as well as another OPEC colleague (the United Arab Emirates).
– if there are alternative export pipelines for crude oil, there is no alternative route for liquefied natural gas (LNG).
– why prices look the way they do,
– what measures have been taken so far (and why they are only tactical, not structural),
– how prepared is Europe for what is to come,
– the real exposure of European states, especially those that produce electricity from natural gas that may also experience electricity price increases,
– Black Sea gas and the direction in which it should go,
– electric cars and the future of mobility. All our discussion in the link below.

My intervention from May 1, about the gathering clouds. At this moment, for Romania, the greater danger comes from political instability, that is, the weakened front is the domestic one – we are not in optimal shape to deal with external crises.

Answering the questions of Radu Osipov, on TV Moldova1, yesterday, April 30, about:
– the exit of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from OPEC and whether we have reasons for joy or concern. The decision will not help the markets very much because what is missing from the market is a much too large amount (13Mb/day), even if the Emirates would produce at the maximum now (4.8 Mb/day) instead of the quota that falls to them through OPEC (3.5 Mb/day).
– the exit from OPEC comes as a result of the accumulated tensions, especially with Saudi Arabia, the leader of the cartel. Establishing and respecting the quotas within the OPEC+ alliance is done at the expense of the sister states (Arab, Muslim). When you have to coordinate with non-OPEC countries (the OPEC+ alliance established in 2016) on the production side, practically OPEC makes room for barrels from Russia or Kazakhstan by restricting production in OPEC countries which thus sacrifice part of the production (not realizing income) in the name of "market stability".
– yes, by leaving the UAE, OPEC loses its flexibility, because only Saudi Arabia and the UAE have excess production capacity ("swing supply") – that is, the ability to increase production when needed. Russia does not have this capacity, having a rigid oil production profile.
– Why don't we feel the shock so strongly yet? Because the shock was amortized in March, when the US allowed India to buy Russian oil (from which India had just moved away, also under American pressure). Because the IEA decided to release 400 million barrels from the strategic stocks. Both measures work as an anesthetic and shock absorber. The exit of the Emirates from OPEC weakens the organization, but this is not necessarily a bad thing for consumers, because cartels have NEVER been good for consumers.

My discussion with Gabriela Mihai from April 30, at B1.ro, about the new wave of price increases at the pump. The cheapening in mid-April had more to do with the hopes of the 2-week truce, which should have paved the way for the permanent unblocking of the straits, which did not happen. The destruction of hopes means that prices at international quotations will start to reflect more and more this reality and not our wishful thinking, so prices will go up – something that is already happening.

This morning, at Euronews Romania, I commented on:
– the lack of diesel in some gas stations in the country, a situation that I see rather as a local and temporary anomaly.
– the announcement that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will leave OPEC from May 1, 2026. OPEC membership has acted more like a straitjacket lately. The production limitation policy was against the emirates: average production of 3 Mb/day in 2024, 3.5 Mb/day (the OPEC quota for them, by May 2026) in the context where they can produce 4.8 Mb/day and have invested to increase the production capacity to 5 Mb/day until 2027. The Emirates want not to be tied hand and foot, they will release from the quota OPEC, in order to produce as much as possible, especially now that tourism revenues may decrease. For consumers, this will not necessarily translate into lower prices. In general, cartels are not good for consumers, so the weakening of OPEC by the loss of the UAE is not necessarily bad news.