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LONDON (ICIS) – The incumbent gas operator in Moldova has asked large industrial consumers to reduce their consumption, because the gas that Russian Gazprom has contractually committed to deliver will only meet 67% of the required demand for October.
Moldovagaz has called on dual-fuel consumers to switch to oil as the country’s pro-EU government negotiates a possible increase in supplies with Gazprom.
Moldova has extended its gas supply contract by one month after its previous agreement with Gazprom expired.
In a statement posted on Facebook, Moldovagaz said it expected to receive 54 million cubic meters in October, but added that typical seasonal demand could exceed 80 million cubic meters. Moldovagaz is half-owned by Gazprom.
At present, Moldova is using gas online to fill the daily supply gap.
According to the publication, Gazprom was unable to deliver more volumes because the contract extension was negotiated on the last day of September, which meant that the deadline for monthly capacity reservation through Ukraine had been passed.
In a statement to ICIS, Ukrainian gas transmission system operators said GAzprom only needed to reserve exit capacity to Moldova, stressing that it already had monthly entry capacity.
Gazprom has a long-term ship-or-pay contract with Ukraine to deliver gas to Central Europe but also to Moldova.
On October 1, he decided to stop the gas transit to Hungary, even though he had reserved 24.6 million m3 / day for Hungary and paid for it.
Ukrainian network operator GTSO said Gazprom already has the Hungarian entry capacity reserved and it is enough to book additional exit capacity for Moldova at low cost.
GTSO said Moldova could also take gas at the Ukrainian-Russian border, but said it depends on the delivery of volumes by Gazprom to this border point.
Gazprom did not respond to questions from CIHI at the time of publication.
A Moldovan market source said Gazprom could reserve daily capacity and deliver volumes on an as-needed basis.
Moldova has no storage capacity and is entirely dependent on Russian gas.
Neighboring Romanian gas transmission network operator Transgaz is working on the completion of the transport infrastructure connecting Romania to the Moldovan capital Chisinau, which it was due to commission this month.
When operational, the Iasi-Ungheni-Chisinau transmission corridor could supply 1.5 billion cubic meters to Moldova, which is half of its annual consumption.
ICIS asked Transgaz when the interconnector would be commissioned. The company did not respond to the question but said the request was given a registration number and would be processed within a maximum of 30 days.
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