Contaminated oil destined for Romania has been stopped: interview with an energy expert

Cătălin Deacu, TVR, 5 August 2025

On 5 August 2025, TVR presenter Cătălin Deacu interviewed Eugenia Gușilov, an energy expert, in the context of the contamination of two ships’oil bound for Romania and coming from the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The Romanian government was forced to release oil and diesel from strategic reserves as a matter of urgency. Eugenia Gușilov places the accident in its geopolitical context, explains what it means in the Romanian context, and adds why it is unrealistic to expect a significant increase in oil production in Romania.

Cătălin Deacu, TVR presenter:

First of all, we are discussing the problems that have arisen with Romania’s supply of imported crude oil. The Ministry of Energy was forced to declare a state of emergency, a crisis level, after the Petrobrazi refinery was left without some of the crude oil from Azerbaijan needed for refining. In fact, OMV Petrom, the company that owns the refinery, rejected two shipments of Azerbaijani crude oil on the grounds that they were contaminated with organic chlorides at the port of loading in Ceyhan, Turkey.

Data from the National Institute of Statistics show that Romania has become increasingly dependent on oil imports. Here’s what it’s all about: in the first five months of the year, our country’s oil resources amounted to 4.72 million tons of oil equivalent, of which imports accounted for 3.67 million tons, or almost 80% of the total.

Domestic production reached a total of approximately one million tonnes of oil equivalent, representing about 22% of the total. If we compare the situation in the first five months of the year with that in the same period last year, we find that domestic production fell by about 7.4%. During the same period, oil imports increased by over 40%.

Furthermore, National Institute of Statistics’ data show that in recent years, domestic crude oil production has accounted for an increasingly smaller share, reaching approximately 24% last year. It is interesting to note that it fell below the 30% threshold reached in 2021. We will discuss this topic with energy market analyst Eugenia Gușilov, who is directly connected to us. Hello!

Eugenia Gușilov: Hello!

First of all, we see that the Ministry of Energy has declared a state of emergency, a crisis level, following supply problems at the Petrobrazi refinery after the incident involving imported crude oil from Azerbaijan. OMV Petrom, the company that owns the refinery, rejected two shipments of crude oil on the grounds that they were contaminated with organic chlorides, and that this contamination had occurred at the port of loading in Ceyhan, Turkey.

As a result, the refinery was left without some of the crude oil it needed for refining. Please tell us how vulnerable we are to such situations.

Normally, contamination with organic chlorides is a rare event, and this is the first time it has been recorded in a European Union member state. However, this does not rule out the possibility of sabotage at the port of loading, i.e. in Azerbaijan. On the other hand, in terms of volume, OMV Petrom rejected two ships carrying a total of 184,000 tons of crude oil. This is not a very large volume, and representatives of the company and the Ministry of Energy have stated that 10 days of production at the normal capacity of the Petrobrazi refinery will be affected. The Ministry of Energy released 110,000 tons from emergency stocks, also held by OMV Petrom, which means that part of this temporary deficit was covered by the company itself, from commercial stocks.

Based on the information available, we are indeed talking about an exceptional situation, not a common one. The authorities have not disclosed the cause of this contamination. What scenarios are possible? Is it possible, after all, that a criminal hand was involved?

We could talk about an act of sabotage, but evidence would have to be provided, and this is quite difficult to prove because the contamination did not occur on EU territory, not even in Turkey, but in the port of loading, i.e. outside the EU, in a country that is not even a NATO member. In any case, we are dealing with a deterioration in relations between Russia and Azerbaijan, following other incidents involving an Azerbaijani airline plane that was shot down by air defense forces and another incident involving Azerbaijani citizens in Russia. Therefore, at the moment, relations between Azerbaijan and Russia are quite tense.

On the other hand, we are facing a second wave of oil route reconfiguration, following the first wave that took place in 2022-2023. Basically, Canadian oil is to be removed from the US market as a result of the tariff war between the US and Canada. In return, the US is allowing Venezuelan oil to enter the market, and Canadian oil is looking for a market in China. This means that Russian oil, which has a market share in China and is sold there, will be removed from the Chinese market, i.e., it will be “squeezed out” and will effectively exit the market.

Less Russian oil will be sold on the Chinese market. So we are dealing with this second reconfiguration of routes and pipelines affecting global oil flows, which of course affects Russia.

This oil from Azerbaijan, which OMV Petrom was supposed to buy, left a pipeline on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan route. Basically, a pipeline that crosses three countries and is over 1,500 kilometers long. From a technical point of view, this contamination would have occurred either in Azerbaijan or in Turkey, at the other end, right? Because there would have been no way for it to happen along the way.

In Turkey, the chances are slim, because the Turks are very interested in becoming a trading hub and a commercial hub. On the other hand, Russia has reasons to be angry with Azerbaijan, following the incidents I mentioned earlier and other diplomatic incidents that are straining relations. Russia has used the other routes you mentioned, which bypass the pipeline passing through Russia.

So, basically, the alternative routes exist, and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan was launched in 2006, right? This alternative route was opened. For oil and gas, there are two parallel pipelines. One is for oil, the other for gas, and they were built for this very purpose: to avoid the territory of the Russian Federation.

Has Romania become increasingly dependent on oil imports from Azerbaijan via this pipeline?

Romania has become dependent on alternative sources that do not come from the Russian Federation. Romania has made efforts in this regard, as have other EU member states, and Azerbaijan is an important non-Russian source of oil for Romania.

Do we have any certainty, Ms. Gușilov, that the oil we import from Azerbaijan is Azerbaijani oil and not Russian oil?

Very good question! Normally, if relations between Russia and Azerbaijan were good, we might have suspected this, because Russia has an agenda to force Azerbaijan to mix its own oil with Russian oil. Thus, through this ruse, through this trick, more Russian oil would end up in Azerbaijan, and it would then be very difficult to prove which molecule is Azerbaijani and which is from the Russian Federation.

So Russia wanted and put pressure on Azerbaijan to implement this scheme to circumvent the sanctions. However, given the current state of relations between Azerbaijan and Russia, for the first time Azerbaijan is in a position to take steps to distance itself from Russia, because Turkey supports Azerbaijan, a unique situation that did not exist in the 1990s.

Basically, Azerbaijan is now less dependent on Russia in terms of foreign policy and can take autonomous decisions, even decisions to distance itself, which do not satisfy Russia’s wishes.

Let’s take a look at what is happening in our country, because, as you mentioned, following this incident, OMV Petrom was forced to withdraw 80,000 tons of crude oil and another 30,000 tons of diesel fuel from its emergency stocks. First of all, please tell us how serious the situation is when you have to resort to emergency oil stocks?

This is an incident that creates a crisis, but only in the short term. It would only affect the operation of the Petrobrazi refinery for 10 days, and these emergency stocks were called upon to resolve the problem. Please note that Romania does not have a central operator, i.e., the Romanian state does not have an entity delegated to manage these stocks.

For this reason, Romania relies on economic operators, which it mandates to build up these stocks. Each year, the structure of the stocks is decided, i.e., the proportion of gasoline, crude oil, diesel, or fuel oil. These stocks are built up using two methods: either to cover 90 days of net imports or to cover 61 days of consumption.

Depending on the method used, the maximum volume of stocks would be approximately 1.8 million tonnes of oil equivalent (in the maximum case, covering 90 days of imports) or 1.5-1.6 million tonnes of oil equivalent (if covering 61 days of domestic consumption).

We can see that domestic oil production has fallen year on year, and Romania has become increasingly dependent on imports. As far as natural gas is concerned, we have seen and discussed many times that Romania is taking important steps to become independent in terms of supply, ensuring that all the gas it needs comes from domestic production. The same is not true for crude oil.

Technically speaking, is there anything else we can do to increase domestic production, which is declining year on year?

Romania is a mature and very mature oil-producing area. It is one of the most exploited regions, with oil having been extracted for over 150 years. Therefore, even with the implementation of modern secondary and tertiary recovery technologies, we do not have enough room for maneuver to significantly increase oil production in Romania in the near future.

Although Romania is a mature oil-producing area, we are still dealing with new discoveries, as announced by Petrom. About once a year, a new oil field is discovered, but these discoveries are not likely to reduce our dependence on imports, which is now close to 77%.

So we import a lot, even more than 4-5 years ago.

In conclusion, once we have solved the problem of natural gas supply from domestic production and are comfortable in this regard, do you think the authorities should be much more attentive to reducing dependence on oil imports? Should they stimulate domestic production through prospecting programs and greater involvement in exploration?

Petrom is the key player here, as it is the main oil producer in Romania. The 110,000 tons currently produced (80,000 tons of crude oil and 30,000 tons of diesel) represent only a very small percentage, 5-6%, of the total stock, which is approximately 1.8 million tons of oil equivalent in a whole year. We have this European directive, the 2009 directive, which obliges member states to build up stocks in an emergency.

And that gives us that buffer, that safety net. If a crisis lasts longer than 90 days, there are aid and solidarity schemes between states. Broadly speaking, this concept comes from the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), as they were the first to implement this policy of building up emergency stocks at state level.

Ms. Eugenia Gușilov, thank you for joining us on “Money Today.” We will talk to you again, we are following this topic, because it is very, very interesting and shows what vulnerabilities we have in this area.

Photo: (source: Facebook)

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