The Republic of Moldova has natural gas supplies that are sufficient until February and the purchases will continue, said Minister of Energy Victor Parlicov. According to him, the citizens this winter will be supplied with natural gas purchased from the international market, at the most advantageous prices. The minister avoided saying if the gas charge could be decreased, but assured that there are no preconditions for the charge to rise, IPN reports.
The minister said the Republic of Moldova is ready from energy viewpoint for the winter season. Considerable amounts of gas were bought and were stored in Romania and Ukraine. Owing to the war in Israel, the prices on the international market grew and the purchases of gas were suspended.
“We stored about 650 million cubic meters of gas. These volumes will do until the middle of next February. This does not mean that we will not purchase gas any more. The consumers can be calm as the gas prices this winter will be stable no matter what happens on the international market. Over the past two weeks, there has been a kind of panic on international exchanges due to the war between Israel and the militarist group Hamas. That’s why the moment is not favorable for storing gas. But Energocom will supply gas at the price of about US$600 and we are sure that we will be able to keep this price throughout winter, while the charges, even if they do not decline considerably, will remain stable no matter what happens on international exchanges,” Victor Parlicov stated in the program “Day by Day” on Radio Moldova station.
The minister noted that Moldova doesn’t purchase gas for the right side of the Nistru from the Russian company Gazprom. The prices on the international market are lower than the price generated by the formula stipulated in the contract signed with Gazprom.
“We managed to purchase gas from the European market at much lower prices than it would have cost us according to the formula agreed with Gazprom. We purchase gas cheaper than the price at which Gazprom would have supplied us with gas directly. That’s why there is no use purchasing gas from Gazprom for the right bank. We decided that all has supplied by Gazprom will be transferred to the left side for maintaining social stability there and for having a better price of electrical energy. We bought gas from seven different suppliers, including from Greece, Azerbaijan etc. All the gas is from the European market and was purchased at lower prices than the price at which Gazprom would have supplied us with gas. We are glad that we have options. We are proud that we cannot be blackmailed even if there are Russian molecules in this gas,” said the minister.
According to Energocom, the state between September 4 and October 5 purchased about 280 million m3 of gas from seven companies. The weighted average price was US$420 per 1,000 m3. The costs of transportation to the storage place, of injection, storage, extraction and transportation to the Republic of Moldova when necessary are added to this price. The purchases were made with a loan provided by the EBRD.
