Gas pipe near Chitcani village to be fixed in three days: Moldova Gaz

Moldova Gaz says it will solve the technical defect caused by a strong blast on Wednesday morning, April 1, nearby Chitcani village. President of Moldova Gaz Aleksandr Gusev said at a news conference that the specialists were investigating the cause of the explosion, Info-Prim Neo reports. The Ananiev-Tiraspol-Ismail pipeline is used to transit the Russian gas to the Balkans and the explosion brought to cut the deliveries to Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece and Macedonia by 50%. Gusev says that 60% of the usual quantity delivered to these countries is already ensured, by using other pipelines. No victims were registered and the inhabitants on both banks of the Nistru will not suffer, the head of Moldova Gaz ensured. The damaged area is on the territory served by Tiraspoltransgaz. The gas pipe has been used for 22 years, having a working period of 40. A similar explosion took place in 1989 in the north of the country, in the gas pipe on the Ananiev-Chernivtsy segment. Moldova Gaz will invest 400 million in the gas distribution networks in Moldova in 2009, as 25% of this sum is to be used for strengthening transnational gas tubes. In another context, Aleksandr Gusev stated that the price of the gas sold by giant Gazprom to Moldova is to fall in April from $352 to $250 for 1 thousand cubic meters.