Minister: Moldova hopes to import gas from Azerbaijan

Chisinau hopes to import gas from Azerbaijan, Moldovan Energy Ministry State Secretary Constantin Borosan said.

Until 2021, Moldova was 100 per cent dependent on a single source of natural gas, which was Russia, he said in an interview with Trend.

"We no longer consume natural gas from that country. Moldova was forced to quickly undergo a challenging process of procuring natural gas from European markets. We had no prior experience in this sphere. With the support of the United States, the European Union, and Romania, we now procure natural gas from the European market. Of course, these are short-term projects, and we would like to establish contracts for longer periods, spanning several years. Moldova is currently seeking such solutions. We have previously expressed our interest in purchasing natural gas from Azerbaijan and hope that it will be possible. As for other countries from which we are considering gas procurement, Romania, which has its own sources, is certainly one of them," Borosan said.

Additionally, as the state secretary highlighted, the Romanian company ROMGAZ has signed a contract with Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR for natural gas supplies.

"This contract stipulates that, if necessary, ROMGAZ will supply gas to Moldova. We also currently procure gas through the state company Energocom within the project with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development [EBRD], involving suppliers and companies from the United States, Ukraine, Romania, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic,” he noted.

Borosan also added that the EU Energy Platform is already in place, bringing together sellers and buyers of gas.

“We see clear advantages in this platform and believe it can serve as a good tool for Moldova and Azerbaijan in terms of long-term cooperation in the field of natural gas," he stressed.

On February 3, a contract was signed in Baku between SOCAR and Romgaz on the supply of up to 1 billion cubic metres of gas from Azerbaijan to Romania.

Gas from Romania to Moldova can be supplied via the Iasi-Ungheni gas pipeline with a length of 43.2 km, which was built with the help of the EU back in 2014 and has not been used all these years.

The throughput capacity of the gas pipeline from Romania is 1.5 billion cubic metres per year, while the republic consumes up to 3 billion cubic metres of this fuel.