Romania pledges support to Moldova to cover winter gas, power needs

Romania has pledged its support to neighbor Moldova through the supply of additional energy to cover demand over the winter after Moldova's government approved a state of emergency in the energy sector to begin Dec. 16.

The government of Moldova warned Dec. 11 of a "major risk" to energy security across the country due to uncertainty regarding Russian gas supplies to the Transnistria region of Moldova on the left bank of the Dniester.

Transnistria is currently supplied with Russian gas delivered via Ukraine under a contract between Gazprom and Moldovagaz, but imports could be halted when the Russia-Ukraine transit contract expires at the end of 2024.

That could also impact operations at a gas-fired power plant in Transnistria, which produces electricity also used in the Republic of Moldova.

Romania's energy minister Sebastian Burduja said Bucharest was in "permanent contact" with the Moldovan government.

"Of course, the priority is the national energy system, but we are confident that we can support Chisinau's effort to get through the winter well, as Romania has done before," Burduja said in a statement late Dec. 13.

"Romania remains a reliable partner for the Republic of Moldova. In the face of these challenges, close collaboration between our governments and energy companies is the key to ensuring energy security," he said.

"Our brothers must not be allowed to fall into the hands of Russia again in order to get through this winter well," he said.

Moldova's gas demand is split between the Republic of Moldova on the right bank of the Dniester (around 1.2 Bcm/year) and the more industrialized region of Transnistria on the left bank (2.1 Bcm/year).

The Republic of Moldova no longer consumes Russian gas; instead, it uses imports from neighboring European countries.

Energy stability

The Romanian energy ministry said it would support Moldova's energy stability this winter through a number of measures.

In gas, the ministry said it would analyze "priority" gas storage withdrawal options from Romanian stocks if deliveries to the Transnistrian region were disrupted.

It said it would also increase the value of the operational balancing account between grid operators VestMoldTransGaz and Transgaz to mitigate the impact in the first days of the crisis.

It added that if the Transnistria thermal power plant was unable to produce energy for the Republic of Moldova, Romania -- together with the support of European partners -- would look to cover the power supply deficit estimated at 600 MW.

Nuclearelectrica and Hidroelectrica are also already in contact with Moldova's Energocom to analyze the possibilities of providing additional volumes of electricity to the Republic of Moldova, it said.

Import capacity from Romania is currently 315 MW and is expected to increase by 80 MW this week to 395 MW.

Moldovagaz procurement

In a separate statement Dec. 13, Moldovagaz said it had completed 100% of the purchase of gas volumes required for the entire heating season from October 2024-March 2025 for the Republic of Moldova on the right bank of the Dniester.

The procurement procedure was initiated in July this year and successfully completed on Dec. 12, it said.

In total, some 748 million cu m of gas was bought at a weighted average price of Eur47.88/MWh for delivery to the Virtual Trading Point of the Republic of Moldova.

Some 700 million cu m was purchased on the Romanian Commodities Exchange Est commodity exchange, with the remaining 48 million cu m bought from state utility Energocom.