The Republic of Moldova may be getting closer to getting out of dependence on Russian gas, Reuters writes with reference to a statement made on Saturday by Deputy Prime Minister Andrii Spinu, who said that for the first time in history, residents of the right bank of the Dniester will no longer consume gas. which is supplied by Gazprom.

“For the first time in the history of our country, the right bank will not consume gas supplied by Gazprom.” Since last year, we have promised that we will make reserves and find alternatives to stop being dependent on one source. We managed to do it,” Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure of Moldova Andrei Spinu said on Saturday, quoted by the local press, News.ro reports.

Moldova signed a short-term energy deal with local company Energocom to buy 100 million cubic meters of gas this month so that for the first time it does not need to use the gas it used to buy from Gazprom.

The Emergency Situations Commission of the Republic of Moldova decided on Friday that in December, MoldovaGaz will purchase 100 million cubic meters of natural gas from the domestic supplier Energocom at an average price of $1,108.61 per thousand cubic meters.

Following the deal with Energocom, gas purchased by the Republic of Moldova from Russian state giant Gazprom will be supplied to the separatist Kremlin-loyal Transnistrian region on the left bank of the Dniester, which will in turn supply Chisinau with electricity.

Energocom stores the purchased gas at facilities in Ukraine and Romania, but as Reuters points out, it is unclear where it buys the gas from.

“Moldovagaz” announced on Friday that it has fully paid the Russian giant “Gazprom” for the consumption of natural gas for November. In addition, the state-owned company paid an advance for deliveries for the month of December.

“Moldovagaz paid for the consumption of natural gas supplied in November and December, paying Gazprom $47.64 million, or the equivalent of more than 923 million lei,” said the Director of “Moldovagaz” Vadym Cheban. He explained that this became possible thanks to the help which came from the state, in the amount of about 363.46 million lei (Moldovan – no).

Natural gas consumption in the Republic of Moldova for January-November 2022 amounted to 745.4 million cubic meters for a total of 12.416 billion lei. Consumption in November amounted to 63 million cubic meters worth 1.78 billion lei, writes agora.md.

The Republic of Moldova buys natural gas from Gazprom at a price of $1,031 per thousand cubic meters. However, in October, Gazprom reduced supplies to the Republic of Moldova by 30 percent, threatening to reduce their volume even more. Also, since October, the price of gas for household consumers has been increased by almost 30 percent and has reached about 30 Moldovan lei per cubic meter.

An analysis published by the unimedia.md portal showed that since 1995, the price of a cubic meter of gas in the Republic of Moldova has increased from 30 soires to almost 30 Moldovan lei.

However, the total bill Chisinau pays to Gazprom includes gas consumption from Transnistria, and the separatist region has historic debts to the supplier.

Vice Prime Minister Andriy Spinu said on Saturday that although the price of gas purchased by Energokom is higher than that of Gazprom, the tariff for the population will not change and will be compensated by the state.

“This price includes all costs: the cost of gas purchase, transport costs and storage costs borne by “Energocom”. In addition, the government continues to increase gas reserves for the coming months. It is important that the tariff will not change after this decision. Citizens will continue to receive support in the draft law, and we will survive this winter well,” Deputy Prime Minister Andrii Spinu assured.