Moldovan PM sacks minister, other officials and calls state of emergency in energy sector

Moldova’s prime minister Dorin Recean sacked minister of energy Victor Parlicov, head of state-owned energy trade Energocom Victor Binzan, and state’s representative in the Supervisory Board of Moldovagaz Sergiu Tofilat, whom he accused of failure to secure the necessary natural gas deposits ahead of the winter.

PM Recean sent lawmakers a request to introduce a state of emergency from December 16 until the “situation regarding the natural gas supply, including that of the Moldovans in Transnistria, is settled," Deschide.md reported.

The move was broadly seen as a way to address public discontent for the recent 27.5% natural gas price and possible other problems in the energy system that are likely to follow if Gazprom fails to reroute its deliveries to Moldova, so far sent through Ukraine, through Turkey.

The price hike asked by natural gas supply company Moldovagaz was necessary because of the higher prices paid for the gas purchased in October and November after the company had insufficient funds to accumulate gas reserves in advance during the summer period, head of the company Vasile Ceban explained. He kept his seat, as Moldovagaz is controlled by Gazprom and is not under direct control of the government.

Supplying separatist region Transnistria with natural gas, and thus the entire country with electricity, remains a hot potato in the hands of the government in Chisinau, and no procurement of natural gas in advance would have fully addressed the risk of further energy price hikes and possible energy scarcity. At most, such massive stocks would have allowed central authorities to deliver free gas to Transnistria instead of Gazprom at a cost estimated at USD 400 million – a tough political decision that PM Recean never addressed.

Minister for reintegration Oleg Serebrian, responsible for the relation with Transnistria, said that the central authorities are ready to supply the residents in Transnistria with gas – but at the same prices paid by all the other residents in the country. So far, the residents of the separatist, pro-Russian region of Transnistria are paying preferential prices since Transnistria is not paying the gas bill to Gazprom.

According to representatives of natural gas supply company Moldovagaz, controlled by Gazprom, there are gas amounts contracted to cover 80% of this winter’s necessary – meaning for the months of December and January, and the company is organizing auctions to buy the rest of the necessary. But the higher prices paid at this moment would push up the prices.