Moldova’s President visits Romania amid acute energy crisis

President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, is visiting Romania on November 1 amid an acute energy crisis and rising security threats.

Separatist region Transnistria threatened to stop the electricity supplies to Moldova proper as of November 1, fugitive businessmen and politician Vlad Plahotniuc and Ilan Shor are organising mass rallies against the pro-EU Government in Chisinau allegedly under the coordination of Russian agencies, and the Russian missiles are falling closer to the national territory (a first one actually fell on the territory of Moldova on October 31).

Romania has already set a capped price of RON 450 per MWh for the electricity sold to Moldova under bilateral contracts - but such contracts are scarce, and eventually, Moldova’s power trader Energocom had to tap the more expensive day-ahead market in order to purchase larger amounts.

Regarding the natural gas market, no bilateral contract has been signed yet, but Energocom is registered as a trader on the Romanian market as well. The company announced significant purchases of 27 mln cubic meters on October 31 - which brings Moldova’s natural gas reserves to 127 mln cubic meters.

Gazprom is delivering in November only 51% of the contractual amounts, but the share dedicated to Moldova proper (the region not including Transnistria) is roughly one-third - 54 mln cubic meters - some 36% of the contractual amount.

However, given the warm weather, the country will need only 115-120 mln cubic meters in November.

The biggest problem is, however, on the side of electricity - where the transfer capacity between Romania and Moldova is limited. In October, a transfer capacity to Moldova (Isaccea-Vulcanesti) was commissioned, while Romania also has a capacity of 125MW to Ukraine, which can be allocated to Moldova.

(Photo source: Presidency.ro)