Romania’s Ministry of Energy Declares State of Emergency Due to Contaminated Azerbaijani Oil

The cause of the state of emergency was oil contamination at the Turkish Ceyhan oil terminal, which affected the supply of raw materials from Azerbaijan to the Petrobrazi refinery of OMV Petrom. According to Profit.ro, citing data from BTC Pipeline Company, traces of a corrosive substance were found in several tanks at the terminal, making it impossible to transport the batch of oil to the port of Constanta, as reported by Digi24. As a result, OMV Petrom did not receive raw materials for processing, leading to a temporary shortage, and the authorities decided to allow access to emergency reserves. By order of the Ministry of Energy, OMV Petrom was granted permission to use 80,000 tons of oil and 30,000 tons of diesel fuel from strategic reserves. The ministry officially confirmed the presence of a “local crisis” caused by serious supply disruptions, and according to the law, the company is required to replenish the reserves within two months. In total, in 2025, OMV Petrom is obligated to maintain more than 676,000 tons of strategic fuel reserves.