All the household users will continue having access to heat and electrical energy regardless of the possible scenarios. Gas reserves will be formed and access to alternative import sources will be ensured, Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu, Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development, told a news conference. He said that the authorities will yet announce a plan to reduce gas consumption in the county by 15%, IPN reports.
The Government has analyzed three scenarios concerning the supply of natural gas by Gazprom. The supply of gas can be halted partially, in the proportion of 35% to 50%, or fully. “We are getting ready for scenarios when the enterprises will switch over to alternative sources of energy... Even if the winter is expected to be hard, together with the war in Ukraine and with a lot of unknowns, regarding the contract for the supply of gas with Gazprom, we will all have heat in homes in winter,” stated Andrei Spînu.
According to the minister, a law that introduces the obligation to create strategic natural gas stores was adopted. The current stores come to 24 million cubic meters of gas. The Government decision on the approval of measures to prevent and alleviate the impact of the energy crisis if natural gas supplies are limited and to prepare for the 2022-2023 heating season will be published today for public consultations.
The draft decision enables to increase the number of protected consumers by adding to the list all the small and medium-sized enterprises with average daily consumption smaller than 600 cubic meters of gas and the electric plants that supply heat to protected consumers and cannot use other types of fuel.
“To diversify the alternative sources of natural gas, we will increase and supplement the state reserves of crude oil. Crude oil is an alternative to the natural gas for Termoelectrica, for producing electricity and for supplying the municipality of Chisinau with heat. About 216,000 tonnes of crude oil are necessary in total. The contract was signed for the purchase of the first amounts of crude oil that will go into the state reserves. The state reserves of coal will also be supplemented,” stated the Deputy Prime Minister.
The EBRD offered Moldova a loan of €300 million for enhancing energy security by buying natural gas for supplementing the amounts of gas that are supplied now by Russia and Ukraine.
