Expert-Grup

How do we achieve energy security? The Romania-Moldova gas interconnection

EnergieFriday, 22 February 20196965 views
Project:
Reconnect Moldova: Bringing Gas on the Iasi-Ungheni Pipeline

Automatically translated summary. The full text is available in Romanian.

Moldova depends almost 100% on Russian gas, and its current contracts with Gazprom expire after 2019. A study by Independent Think Tank “Expert-Grup” examines the Romania-Moldova gas interconnection as an alternative, assessing the risks to its construction on both sides of the border and proposing measures for the authorities.

The interconnection would end Gazprom’s monopoly rather than swap one dependence for another, letting consumers choose among about 50 Romanian suppliers and Gazprom. Yet risks abound. In Romania, EU funds cover 30% of the EUR 152 million cost, but Transgaz juggles several projects, and Ordonanța 114 reduces the gas available for export. Works could finish only after 2020.

In Moldova, the privatisation of Vestmoldtransgaz cancelled loans and a grant, tenders for the Ungheni-Chișinău pipeline drew no bidders and were relaunched in February 2019, and without storage only half of the 1.5 billion m3 capacity would be used. The article urges both countries to repeal or amend harmful rules and to ensure independent, non-discriminatory regulation by ANRE.

View the original in Romanian