# Is Romania Still A Major Oil Producer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 13, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-romania-still-a-major-oil-producer/250171 "2004-06-13T20:56:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-romania-still-a-major-oil-producer/250171/1 "2004-06-13T20:56:16Z")
I was watching a documentary about the US Army Airforce’s bombing of the Ploesti Oilfields in Romania, in WWII. These raids were very costly, as the oilfields were at the very limit of the range of the bombers, and were defended by crack Luftwaffe fighter groups. It appaers that Hitler’s war machine was almost entirely dependednt upon Romanian oil-I have no conception about the Axis consumption of oil, but I’m sure it was huge-Panzer tanks used a lot of diesel! Anyway, Is Romania still exporting oil? Or is the Ploesti field mostly all used up? Is there any oil exploration going on in Romania now? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-romania-still-a-major-oil-producer/250171/2 "2004-06-13T21:15:45Z")
Short answer, look here– [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ro.html](http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ro.html) Long answer–they _have oil_, but they no longer export any. All of it is used at home. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-romania-still-a-major-oil-producer/250171/3 "2004-06-13T23:40:35Z")
I’ll ask my co-worker, Aurellian (I call him Vlad), tomorrow. He was talking about their oil reserves last Thursday, but I wasn’t paying attention. Aurellian talks a _lot_. 😉 Peace mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-romania-still-a-major-oil-producer/250171/4 "2004-06-14T00:07:20Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Is there any oil exploration going on in Romania now? There’s drilling right now in the Romanian sector of the Black Sea. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-romania-still-a-major-oil-producer/250171/5 "2004-06-14T00:40:46Z")
The targets of the raids weren’t oil fields. They were the refineries in and around Ploesti. Which supplied about a third of Germany’s fuel oil and aviation gas needs. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-romania-still-a-major-oil-producer/250171/6 "2004-06-14T03:22:13Z")
In fact my friend (the impaler) was talking about the resistance doing dirt to the oil production in an attempt to keep it from the Germans. Were the Romanian Resistance that big a deal in WW2? I don’t doubt it, giver their historical distaste for occupation (Vlad again). I’ll talk to Aurellian, and pay more attention this time. He was a resistor, pre-Gorbachev. He’s still kinda afraid to return. I think there’s some turmoil over said reserves right now. Do people know that Vlad was (is) quite the hero to Romanians? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2004, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-romania-still-a-major-oil-producer/250171/7 "2004-06-17T23:23:39Z")
Ok, I asked Aurillian. He says they want to keep the oil for themselves, so they won’t be dependent on yhe same folks we are. They have crude in some places, he says, that’s so sweet you can burn it as diesel right out of the ground. Transylvania Tea, I think it’s called. 😉 (Ok, I made that up)