With the latest changes in the legislation, we are close to having gas market rules that ensure the activity of genuine suppliers, said Minister of Energy Victor Parlicov, commenting on the amendments to the Law on Natural Gas which were given a second reading by Parliament on Thursday, IPN reports.

The minister noted that the requirements for licensing gas supply were modified. Consequently, license holders will have to pass a procedure for reconfirming the license. “The experience with Nordgaz has taught us that there are temptations sometimes for the gas supply license to be used as news generator, not for gas supply,” stated the official

Victor Parlicov said that “filters” will be created so that those who really supply gas are separated from those who need the license “just in case”. Licensing costs will be higher and those who really want to supply gas will find those resources. If they are not going to supply gas, there is no point in confusing public opinion.

Recently, the National Energy Regulation Agency (ANRE) suspended the license of Nordgaz Furnizare SRL for a period of three months, following a formal complaint by the gas transport operator Vestmoltransgaz. The latter informed that although the supplier Nordgaz Furnizare does not yet have quantities of gas injected or reserved in the national gas system, it started unauthorized delivery of natural gas to its consumers, extracting volumes from the gas system of the Republic of Moldova. This is a flagrant violation of the natural gas market rules approved by ANRE decision and of the Law on Natural Gas.