Over 40% of domestic consumers and about 70% of industrial enterprises in Moldova, in particular those operating in the energy sector, use the natural gas as a source of heating. The country is fully dependent on the Russian gas supplied by Gazprom. Thus, the energy security in the field of natural gas supply is not at all ensured despite the construction of the highly praised Iasi-Ungheni gas pipeline, economist of the Institute for Development and Social Initiative “Viitorul” Iurie Gotisan said in the program “15 minutes of economic realism”, IPN reports.
According to the economist, a simple analysis of data shows that the states that had and continue to have conflicts, including military ones, with the Russian Federation have diversified the sources of natural gas supply, in particular Georgia and Ukraine. The first country imports over 95% of the gas for domestic consumption from Azerbaijan.
“Ukraine, after Russia claimed debts of billions of dollars from it for the supplied gas, including over the armed conflict in Donbas, has hardly imported gas. If it imports gas, this is intended namely for the secessionist regions, about 4%. The rest of the consumed natural gas comes reversely from the EU, implicitly from Slovakia. Romania is apparently a special case given that in 2013 it imported about 17% of Russian gas, while now imports about 30% of the total consumption,” stated Iurie Gotisan.
As regards the Iasi-Ungheni gas pipeline, the economist said the plans to reduce Moldova’s dependence on Russia haven’t been yet achieved. Moreover, if the gas pelerine becomes fully functional, the costs and prices could be a problem, but in the short term only. The average price of a cubic meter of gas supplied to consumers in Romania is now 2.5 RON or 0.6 USD, or 11 Moldovan lei.
“To fully use the capacity of the gas pipeline, the Government of Moldova hopes to build the section to Chisinau by the end of 2018. The procedure for expropriating about 150 citizens whose plots will be crossed by the pipeline is an impediment that should be taken into account,” stated the expert.
