by Eurolng.com Staff
Small-scale LNG market in Romania
Current situation, volumes and supply sources
The small-scale LNG (ssLNG) market in Romania is at a very early stage of development. Unlike Germany, Italy or even Portugal, there is still no developed network of filling stations or significant sales volumes. Below is the current picture: infrastructure, players, gas sources and outlook.
1. Current situation
In November 2024 Vulcangas România (a subsidiary of the Italian Vulcan Group / Società Italiana Gas Liquidi) opened the country’s first public LNG and Bio-LNG station in Pecica (Arad County), near the Hungarian border. This is the starting point of a planned Arad–Constanța corridor. Vulcangas has stated its intention to build more than 10 stations, including in Bucharest (partnership with OMV Petrom) and in Constanța.
Isolated operations had already taken place earlier: in 2021 OMV Petrom supplied LNG by road tanker for the first bunkering/commissioning of a vessel at the Damen shipyard in 2 Mai. However, a commercial mass market for ssLNG did not exist before 2024–2025. Romania’s overall gas market is around 10–11 bcm per year; the ssLNG share remains statistically negligible.
2. Sales volumes
There are no public statistics on ssLNG sales volumes for 2025. The market is only forming: one operating public station and expansion plans. Volumes can be described as pilot and initial, measured in hundreds or low thousands of tonnes rather than tens of thousands. For comparison — in Portugal truck loadings from the Sines terminal alone reached 2.2 TWh in 2025, while Germany has more than 200 stations. Romania is still at the starting line.
3. Where ssLNG traders source gas
Romania has no large LNG terminal with truck-loading capability. Constanța terminal projects have been repeatedly delayed and are effectively frozen/cancelled; the Romgaz–Socar Black Sea project is oriented more toward 2030.
Main sources for ssLNG traders:
- Road-tanker imports from neighbouring countries / via Hungarian and Austrian infrastructure (consistent with the station location in Arad near the border).
- Italian terminals and networks (Vulcangas is an Italian group with historically strong ssLNG positions).
- The Greek Alexandroupolis FSRU is strategically important for the Vertical Gas Corridor (gas flows into Bulgaria and on to Romania by pipeline), but direct truck loading from it is not the primary channel for Romanian ssLNG.
- A future terminal in Constanța (if realised) could become a local loading source.
Key market elements
| Element | Status / details |
|---|---|
| Public LNG stations | 1 (Pecica, Nov 2024); plans for 10+ |
| Operator of first station | Vulcangas (Vulcan Group, Italy) |
| Partners / plans | OMV Petrom (Bucharest), Constanța |
| Own LNG terminal | None (Constanța projects delayed) |
| ssLNG sources | Road-tanker imports (IT/HU/AT etc.) |
| 2025 sales volume | No public data (market at start-up) |
4. Outlook
Growth drivers include CSRD/ETS2 requirements on transport companies, interest in Bio-LNG, development of the Vertical Corridor and a possible Constanța terminal after 2027–2030. For now the market remains niche and depends on imported road-tanker logistics. For external ssLNG suppliers (including from the Baltics or Central Europe) Romania is an early-entry market: low competition, but also limited current demand.
Conclusion
Small-scale LNG in Romania is only beginning. There is one public station (Vulcangas, Pecica), plans for a network of 10+ sites, but neither an own terminal with loading nor meaningful 2025 sales volumes. Traders rely on road-tanker imports from neighbouring markets. Growth is possible as the filling-station network expands and local receiving infrastructure appears.