Southern and central Moldova have gas for several days, while the north has sufficient reserves

The natural gas stores in the pipes in southern and central Moldova are enough for several days only as Ukraine stopped the supplies to Moldova and the Balkan states on January 6. At the same time, the supplies through the Ananiev-Cernauti-Pogoroceni gas pipeline that is located in the north of Moldova have been doubled. The pipeline supplies gas to northern Moldova and to several industrial facilities in the municipality of Chisinau. The assessment was made on the same day by the Commission for Emergencies convened by Prime Minister Zinaida Grecianyi at an extraordinary meeting to examine the situation regarding the provision of Moldova with natural gas and electric power. According to a communiqué from the Government, quoted by Info-Prim Neo, the Commission decided to allocate 21,000 tonnes of crude oil from the state reserve for fueling the Chisinau thermoelectric plants CET-1 and CET-2 and saving natural gas. If Ukraine blocks all the gas supplies, the two plants will be able to heat the municipality of Chisinau during two weeks. There were drawn up timetables for saving natural gas for industrial consumers that were warned by Moldova-Gaz the gas supplies will be reduced from January 7. Premier Zinaida Greceanyi informed the Commission that she had sent two telegrams to her Ukrainian and Russian counterparts, Iulia Timoshenko and Vladimir Putin. She asked them to resume the gas supplies because Moldova fulfills the conditions of the long-term contract signed with Russia’s gas company Gazprom and their misunderstandings with Ukraine should not affect the Moldovan consumers. The Prime Minister also said that everything is under control and the Government takes all the necessary measures to insure the smooth running of the social and medical institutions and the economic entities and to supply them and the households with natural gas and electric power. Zinaida Greceanyi called on the domestic and corporate consumers to save energy resources. First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Trade Igor Dodon said that Moldova is now supplied with electric power by the thermoelectric plants CET-1 and CET-2 in Chisinau and CET-Nord in Balti, the hydroelectric plants in Dubasari and Costesti as well as by the Cuchurgan Power Plant and Ukraine. He stressed that the electric power is supplied in the usual amounts and there is no shortage, the communiqué says.