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LONDON (ICIS) – Moldova is ready to face the winter even though Russian gas imports are limited, senior representatives of the company responsible for guaranteeing the country’s energy security told ICIS.
Energokom’s interim CEO Viktor Binzari and Maciej Wozniak, a senior EU expert who is not key to the company, said staff had been working back-to-back in recent months to secure alternative sources of natural gas and electricity amid growing threats from Russia to cut supplies.
In less than a year, Moldova has gone from being entirely dependent on Russian imports and relying on most of its electricity supplies from Russian-controlled Transnistria to diversifying, trading on neighboring exchanges and storing gas in the region.
Most of the work was done by Energokom, which in recent months has increased its staff from nine to 16, and the number will increase to 41.
DIVERSIFICATION
Thanks to a 300 million euro loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Energokom has purchased and stored 225 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas in Ukrainian and Romanian facilities so far this year.
The volume is enough to cover more than six weeks of cold weather demand on the west bank of the Dniester River, in Moldova itself, Wozniak said.
Energocom registered for trading on the Romanian stock exchanges BRM and OPCOM, as well as for access to the Ukrainian gas storage and transmission system.
It has also recently registered to use Greek and Bulgarian networks, including the Trans Adriatic Pipeline and the Greece Bulgaria Interconnector.
Also, the new Moldovan gas regulations proposed by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development gave Energokom the role of last gas supplier and owner of strategic gas reserves.
GAZPROM THREATS
Diversification is timely.
Earlier in October, Gazprom decided to cut gas supplies by 30%, and recently threatened to further cut them, claiming that Moldova and Ukraine, as a transit country, are drawing Russian gas.
The Russian producer said on November 28 that it would resume deliveries after Moldova paid for the deliveries, but threatened its pro-EU government with further cuts if it did not make the agreed payments
Wozniak rejected claims of gas extraction, noting that Moldova and Ukraine acted in accordance with the law.
“Gazprom did not apologize for that.” [unfounded]
accusations against Moldova and Ukraine. We
[Energocom] they have the right, and the current Moldovagaz, which is controlled by Gazprom, has the right to store gas that has been bought and paid for,” said Wozniak, who has 20 years of experience in European energy markets and worked between 2016-2020. as vice president of the Polish gas pipeline PGNiG.
Going forward, Wozniak expects Energocom to sign short- and medium-term gas supply contracts, including, potentially, with American LNG producers, as well as to register on Central European stock exchanges.
“In terms of gas supply, I think we’re pretty well prepared and we’ll be even better prepared by the end of the year,” he said.
PROCUREMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENERGY
In terms of electricity, Moldova switched almost overnight from relying on 70% of its supply from the 2.5 GW Cuciurgani gas-fired power plant owned by Russia’s Inter RAO in the Russian-influenced Transnistria province to signing contracts with Romanian producers and buying on the Romanian electricity exchange OPCOM.
Energokom has been preparing for months to join the Romanian market, where it has established a subsidiary.
However, the transition happened much faster than expected after Transnistria halted shipments earlier in October and Ukraine, which supplied 30% of the volume, also halted exports after extensive infrastructure damage caused by Russian airstrikes.
“No one realizes it, but this is a Copernican breakthrough, because within a year we simply started buying only from Romania, after many years of buying from Transnistria and Ukraine.” “It was done so smoothly that no one even realized it,” Wozniak said.
Binzari said that the demand for electricity in Moldova is currently around 13 GV per day. Of these, 2.5 GV is covered from internal production, while the rest is covered from Romanian imports, including 2.7 GV delivered under bilateral contracts and 7 GV purchased on the OPCOM exchange.
ROMANIAN CONTRACTS
Energokom concluded contracts with the Romanian producers Nuclearelectrica and OMV Petro, which expire at the end of the year.
It also had a contract with Hidroelectrica in October and signed a new contract for 100MV with Hidroelectrica from December 1st.
Energocom is now in talks with Romanian heat producers CET Oltenia and CET Craiova for additional deliveries by the end of the year, Binzari said.
Romanian prices are on average five times higher than prices paid for supplies from Ukraine or Transnistria, but Binzari said Moldova would have to secure back-up supplies even if a new contract with power producer Cuciurgani is struck.
Romanian imports are facilitated by Moldova’s synchronization with the European system operating under the umbrella of ENTSO-E (European Network of Electricity Transmission System Operators). Along with Ukraine, the country completely disconnected from the legacy Russian system in February and connected to European networks.
The commercial interconnection capacity of the Ukraine-Moldova block with ENTSO-E is 600MV, of which 20% is allocated to Moldova.
However, since Ukraine temporarily suspended imports and exports from ENTSO-E due to the war, Moldova can now use the full 600 MW for commercial imports, Binzari said, noting that the actual technical capacity was closer to 1 MW.
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