PGNiG Supply&Trading (PST), a subsidiary of Poland's oil and gas company PGNiG Group, in cooperation with the US-Ukrainian ERU, has won a tender for the sale of gas to Moldova. This will be the first delivery of non-Russian gas to that country in history.
A million cubic metres of natural gas will reach Moldova on Tuesday, October 26, under a deal on a one-time delivery concluded by PST and ERU with the Moldovan state company Energocom. ERU is PGNiG's leading partner in Ukraine, The First News reports.
PST is the PGNiG capital group’s interface to European energy markets with a focus on Central and Eastern European markets, according to its website.
The tender was announced as a matter of urgency following the reduction of gas deliveries to Moldova by Russia's Gazprom.
Due to this situation, Moldova's parliament approved on Oct. 22 a government motion for a state of emergency, to be in force until Nov. 20, in order to give it time to ease gas shortages amid soaring world energy prices.
Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita explained that the government had been unable to approve a new energy deal with its main supplier, Gazprom, and that the state of emergency would make it possible to buy gas from other sources.
Moldova's contract with Gazprom expired at the end of September. The government asked for an extension but balked at the price of USD 790 per 1,000 cubic metres.
Some experts say Moscow has boosted prices as reprisals against Moldova for electing pro-Western President Maia Sandu last year, Radio Free Europe reports.
Moldova, the country of 2.6 million people, sandwiched between EU member Romania and Ukraine, consumes 2.8 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
Moldova’s gas crisis come as gas prices across Europe and other parts of the world have soared to record levels in recent weeks.
