The Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova: “For the first time in the history of our country, the right bank will not consume gas delivered by Gazprom”
The Republic of Moldova could be getting closer to getting out of dependence on Russian gas, writes Reuters, citing an announcement made on Saturday by Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu, who said that for the first time in history the inhabitants of the right side of the Dniester will no longer consume gas supplied by Gazprom . .
Lead by sightPhoto: AGERPRES
“For the first time in the history of our country, the right bank will not consume gas supplied by Gazprom. Since last year, we have promised to make reserves and find alternatives so that we are no longer dependent on a single source. We have achieved this,” said Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure Andrei Spînu on Saturday, quoted by the local press, News.ro reports.
Moldova has reached a short-term energy agreement with a local company, Energocom, to buy this month 100 million cubic meters of gas, thus, for the first time, it would not need to consume any of the purchased gas. from Gazprom.
The Commission for Exceptional Situations of the Republic of Moldova decided on Friday that for the month of December, MoldovaGaz will buy 100 million cubic meters of natural gas from Energocom, a domestic supplier, at an average price of 1108.61 dollars per thousand cubic meters.
According to the deal with Energocom, the gas purchased by the Republic of Moldova from the Russian state giant Gazprom will be supplied to the separatist Transnistrian region, loyal to the Kremlin, located on the left bank of the Dniester, which, in return, will supply Chisinau with electricity.
Energocom stores the purchased gas in facilities in Ukraine and Romania, but, Reuters notes, it is not clear where it buys the gas from.
Moldovagaz announced on Friday that it has fully paid the Russian giant Gazprom for the consumption of natural gas for the month of November. Moreover, the state-owned company also paid the advance of supplies for the month of December.
“Moldovagaz paid for the consumption of natural gas supplied in November and December, paying Gazprom 47.64 million dollars or the equivalent of more than 923 million lei”, announced the director of Moldovagaz, Vadim Ceban. He explained that this was possible thanks to aid that came from the state, worth about 363.46 million lei (Moldovan – no).
The consumption of natural gas in the Republic of Moldova, between January and November 2022, was 745.4 million cubic meters, with a total value of 12.416 billion lei. The consumption in November was 63 million cubic meters, worth 1.78 billion lei, writes agora.md.
The Republic of Moldova buys natural gas from Gazprom at a price of $1,031 per thousand cubic meters. However, in October, Gazprom reduced deliveries to the Republic of Moldova by 30 percent, threatening to further reduce their volume. Also since October, the price of gas for domestic consumers has been increased by almost 30 percent, reaching about 30 Moldovan lei for a cubic meter.
An analysis published by the unimedia.md portal showed that, since 1995, the price of a cubic meter of gas in the Republic of Moldova has increased from 30 money to almost 30 Moldovan lei.
However, the total bill that Chisinau pays to Gazprom includes gas consumption from Transnistria, and the separatist region has historical debts to the supplier.
Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu stated on Saturday that although the price for gas purchased from Energocom is higher than that of Gazprom, the tariff for the population will not change, and will be compensated by the state.
“This price includes all costs: gas purchase costs, transport costs and storage costs that Energocom incurred. In addition, the Government continues to increase gas stocks for the coming months. Importantly, following this decision, the tariff will not change. Citizens will continue to receive support in the bill and we will get through this winter well”, assured Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu.