Nearly two-thirds, namely 61%, of the natural gas imports of the Republic of Moldova came from the two largest gas producers in Romania, Petrom and Romgaz, in the first nine months of the year, according to data published by Energocom, Moldova's state-owned energy trader designated by the authorities to handle the purchases of energy and gas from the markets.

"Between January and September 2024, SA Energocom purchased a total of about 4.4 million MWh (or 413,000,000 cubic meters). Three-quarters of the gas was procured from companies registered in Romania and from the Romanian stock exchange - BRM. In total, contracts were signed with 8 commercial entities from Romania, Greece, Austria, Switzerland," the company announced in a Facebook post.

Regarding its sales to the natural gas distribution company Moldovagaz, Energocom said that they were operated on the platform managed by BRM EST Moldova - the local subsidiary of the Romanian Commodity Exchange, which is also the operator of the natural gas trading platform in Chisinau, Economica.net reported. 

Other smaller quantities were sold to local companies, in the context that, starting on January 1, 2025, all large consumers will be obliged to procure gas from the free market. During this period, more and more economic agents are migrating to the BRM Est platform, Energocom shows in a post on its Facebook page.

The Moldovan company also disclosed the price paid for natural gas in the third quarter of the year, which was a topic on the agenda of the presidential elections as the pro-Russian opposition accused authorities of paying excessive prices for gas imported from sources other than Gazprom. 

"The weighted average price of the purchased gas was EUR 35.25 per MWh (or USD 404.92  per 1,000 cubic meters). For this purpose, money was used from the grant offered to the Republic of Moldova by the Government of Norway, from the credit of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the company's own sources," explained Energocom.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Sasa Maricic/Dreamstime.com)