Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu shifts the responsibility for the energy crisis on the former governments that left the sector fully unprotected and didn’t identity alternative sources. The official said the government is looking for safety nets so as to avoid situations similar to that witnessed in October and will create natural gas reserves that will be stored in Romania or Ukraine for money, IPN reports.
Andrei Spînu said they have to cope with the burden of the inactivity of the previous governments that fully ignored the energy sector. An energy security strategy is now being designed to strengthen the sector in times of crisis and to ensure the diversification of sources.
“I found this sector completely vulnerable. We will do our best to avoid similar situations. We will strengthen Energocom and will make natural gas reserves. The state reserves should be enough for at least two winter months. Two months are enough for finding good offers for the subsequent periods so that we do not buy gas at spot prices. We must ensure the energy interconnection with Romania is completed,” Andrei Spînu stated in the talk show “Black Box” on TV8 channel.
He noted that in the absence of areas for storing gas inside the country, the Republic of Moldova needs to buy storage areas from the neighing states to make reserves.
“We need to create state reserves, similar to the state reserves of fuel oil or wheat. It’s time to think how to make these state reserves of gas. In summer, when the price of gas is reasonable, we can buy gas from Poland, Ukraine, Romania and can store it in Ukraine or Romania. But the storage areas are not offered free. It is a commercial relationship,” stated Andrei Spînu.
The Republic of Moldova signed a five-year contract for the purchase and supply of gas with Russia’s Gazprom. According to Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu, the price of gas for November is about US$450 per 1,000 cubic meters. In October, Moldova received gas based on a one-month extension to the old contract with Gazprom, but in insufficient amounts. The difference in volumes was covered with gas purchased from the spot market through the agency of Energocom.
