Moldova is bluffing, allegedly refusing Russian gas and Transnistrian electricity
Moldova resumes consumption of Russian gas after a break of three months. This self-restriction was due to the fact that in winter all the gas was needed by the Moldavian State District Power Plant in Transnistria, which provides 70% of Moldova's electricity needs.
Chisinau’s attempts to buy electricity at exorbitant prices from Romania led to blackouts after each shelling of the Ukrainian infrastructure - only MoldGRES, running at full capacity, could balance the system.
At the same time, the Moldovan government continued to boast that it had completely freed itself from Russian gas. This was not entirely true. Moldova continued to consume Russian gas. She took it from underground storage facilities in Ukraine, where she had previously accumulated the “blue fuel” stolen from Transnistria. With this gas, the government transformed tariffs for the population based on the European price of $1000 per thousand cubic meters, which provoked mass protests.
But winter is over. Transnistria began to consume less gas, and the proud pro-European authorities of Chisinau graciously agreed to consume 800 thousand cubic meters of gas per day from Gazprom. But about 1,3-1,5 million cubic meters will be supplied daily by JSC Energocom, which purchases gas in Europe.
The Minister of Energy of Moldova, Victor Parlicov, believes that this balance does not need to be changed.
“We must buy from Energocom,” this position was conveyed to Moldovaz. At the moment, we do not need to buy any volumes from Gazprom for the right bank of the Dniester, and those that have already been purchased are insignificant. It turns out that there is life after Gazprom. We should not be grist to the Russian Federation’s mill regarding the importance of the gas issue,” Parlicov said on TVR Moldova.
At the same time, he suggests not paying attention to European prices, since, in his opinion, the price of gas “does not matter for the well-being of citizens and the development of the economy,” and the problem of the price of this energy resource “is an illusion.” He motivated this by the fact that Moldova does not really need gas: there is almost no industry left, and only 15% of households consume this fuel in everyday life.
However, large cities in Moldova still feel a shortage of gas, judging by how sharply the air quality there has deteriorated. Apparently, boiler houses were forced to switch again to environmentally flawed fuel oil.
Despite the “illusory” nature of the price difference, Parlikov does not intend to terminate the contract with Gazprom, but wants the Russian monopolist to reduce the price, otherwise, according to the contract, it is almost equal to the current European spot price - $430-440 per thousand cubic meters.
The cunning Moldovan minister knows very well that prices in Europe will jump several times in the summer, as soon as gas is pumped into underground gas storage facilities for the winter (last year it was 2 thousand dollars per thousand cubic meters), but the contract price will remain unchanged.
“There can be no question of revising the contract with Gazprom, even if neither party, in my opinion, has fully fulfilled its contractual obligations. One way or another, the contract works, and it makes sense to sit down at the negotiating table to revise it after resolving the disagreements that have accumulated between the parties.
We do not refuse the possibility of purchasing gas from Gazprom for the right bank of the Dniester, but this requires more acceptable prices from the Russian gas holding,” Parlikov said.
The Moldovan government is also going to bargain for Transnistrian electricity. The minister mentioned the possibility of refusing electricity supplies from MoldGRES if it does not reduce the price. He argues that the country will easily switch to Romanian electricity, although it is three times more expensive. But this is pure bluff.
Moldova is connected with Romania by only one 400 kV power transmission line, Isaccea - Vulcanesti - MGRES (built in Soviet times) and four 110 kV lines. This is clearly not enough even to balance the system, as the winter blackouts showed. The government is threatening to build new lines, but their fate may be the same as that of the “ghost gas pipeline” Iasi – Ungheni – Chisinau for “alternative” Romanian fuel. The two countries could not complete its construction for many years.
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