The Ukrainian government has ordered that Moldova’s gas imports from the EU be facilitated without Gazprom’s participation.
According to the resolution of September 29, 2019, which has been published on the government’s website, Naftogaz Ukrainy, Ukrtransgaz, Vinnytsiagaz, the Ministry of Energy and Environment Protection, the state regulator, and local administrations should work to provide Mohyliv-Podilsky (Vinnytsia region) on the border with Moldova with gas.
Moldovan Prime Minister Maia Sandu has said that she fears that Russia and Ukraine will not reach an agreement on gas transit, leading to a halt in gas deliveries after January 1, 2020.
One possible solution is buying and storing gas in Ukraine, Sandu said.
The construction of the Moldovan section of the Iasi-Chisinau gas pipeline should be completed by the end of the year, and the Romanian section by March 2020, so gas will not be delivered through it this winter, she said.
In 2018, Ukraine saw the transit of natural gas fall 7.1 percent compared with 2017, to 86.779 billion cubic meters (bcm). Transit to Europe fell 7.6 percent, to 83.839 bcm, while transit to Moldova rose 8.6 percent, to 2.94 bcm.
