The reduction of consumption and the savings made by Moldovagaz enable to ensure the amount of gas needed in October, said the president of the Administration Board of Moldovagaz Vadim Ceban. According to him, Moldova can experience problems in the supply with natural gas as from November. Talks are being held with Gazprom for this to provide the necessary amounts but discussions are also held with Romania so that Moldova could buy gas from the neighboring country if need be, IPN reports.
The natural gas consummation in September was 27.4 million cubic meters. This is by 37.8% less than in the corresponding period last year. The president of Moldovagaz said the reduction of consumption enables to secure the amounts needed for October.
“The needs for October can be satisfied with the annual capacities that were already stored in accordance with the contract. Our request was to be supplied with larger amounts of natural gas. As the weather allows passing this period easier than last year and consumption was reduced, the quantities planned for October are enough. We are concerned about the supplies for November, when the heating season starts. As far as I know, discussions are held for supplying the country with energy resources from Romania. We are now discussing the increase in the amounts for November with Gazprom. Furthermore, we have the company Energocom that ensures energy resources in emergencies or covers the shortages,” Vadim Ceban stated in a special edition on the public TV channel Moldova 1.
According to the chief of Moldovagaz, there are now no preconditions for increasing the gas rates again. If there are no major shocks on the international market, the rate will remain 29.26 lei per cubic meter of gas at least until the end of this year.
“The projections that were presented to the NAER and based on which the rate was approved cover the period until this yearend. We hope there will be no major shocks on the natural gas market and the current rate will not need to be modified. But things are unpredictable. We will act according to the developments on the market,” said Vadim Ceban.
He explained why the company allocated an additional 0.9 million cubic meters of gas to the Kuchurgan power plant for producing the amount of electricity needed for 24 hours. He said the decision was taken after Kyiv announced that it can no longer sell electricity following the Russian missile attacks on Ukrainian’s energy infrastructure.
“Tiraspoltransgaz supplies gas to the Kuchurgan power plant. The monthly amounts are divided between Moldovagaz and Tiraspoltransgaz. If we economize on the right bank, we can help the company Tiraspoltransgaz and, respectively, the Kuchurgan power plant to supply the whole country with electrical energy. We help the electric companies within possibilities as we are interdependent,” said the head of Moldovagaz.
On Wednesday, Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Andrei Spînu said the Republic of Moldova will be able to purchase electric power from Romania at the price of 450 RON/MWh, which is equal to about 90 EUR/MWh. This price is lower than the market prices and Moldova can this way secure the 30% of electricity that it can no longer receive from Ukraine.
