Page 9 - FSUOGM Week 38 2019

FSUOGM PIPELINES & TRANSPORT FSUOGM Chisinau, Moldova.
Russia promises Moldova no gas supply outages this winter
MOLDOVA
Moldova would be adversely affected if Russia and Ukraine cannot agree a transit contract for next year.
RUSSIA is optimistic about the prospect of gas supplies to Moldova, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak announced on Septem- ber 20 in Chisinau, answering questions from journalists after the Moldovan-Russian eco- nomic forum.
Kozak also praised the new political agree- ment signed a few days earlier between the pro-Russian Socialist Party (PSRM) of Mol- dovan President Igor Dodon and the pro-EU ACUM bloc. A preliminary agreement between the two forces was brokered by Kozak in June and it so far resulted in a dominant role played by Dodon in regard to the country’s foreign pol- icy matters.
The Russian official stressed that Dodon informed him that ACUM and the PSRM signed a new collaboration agreement aimed at solving the country’s internal problems (implying that foreign policy matters remain a prerogative of the president). “Igor Nicolaev- ici [Dodon] told me that a new agreement was signed, for the parliament and the government, and the president who is part of this coalition, to solve the country’s internal problems,” Kozak stated.
Kozak said that there will be no disruption in natural gas supplies through Ukraine.
According to Kozak, based on the results of negotiations held last week with the Ukrainian side, “we can say that there are no big risks with gas transit through Ukraine.”
Dodon, for his part, added that Moldova is
likely to extend for several years the current basic agreement with Gazprom, which is based on a floating gas price, which is calculated according to a certain formula.
“This means that next year Moldova will receive cheaper gas,” the president added.
He also noted that until the end of the year it will not be possible to implement the provisions of the European Union’s Third Energy Package relating to the gas sector, as provided for in the agreement with the European Energy Commu- nity, because the previous authorities did noth- ing in this direction.
“We in Brussels [Dodon met EU officials earlier this month] discussed these issues and decided that the direction of movement is cor- rect, and when and how — we will agree,” the president said.
The issue of Moldova’s debt for gas, especially the large debt run up by the separatist republic of Transnistria, has not been resolved, Dodon also said.
On September 19, a third round of gas talks between Ukraine, Russia and the EU took place in Brussels. The parties discussed a new contract for the transit of Russian gas to Europe through Ukraine. The current transit agreement between Naftogaz Ukrainy and Gazprom expires on December 31. Ukraine and Russia insist on their transit conditions. As a result of the third round, the parties did not come to any specific agree- ments, so they decided to continue negotiations in a month. ™
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