Moldova to set up a natural gas state reserve and the supplier will be obliged to provide reserves sufficient to cover 2-month gas consumption.
This is provided for by the draft amendments to the Natural Gas Law, which has been submitted for public consultations. It is planned that the adoption of the proposed amendments to the Natural Gas Law and related regulations will provide the following benefits: natural gas reserves will be created to enhance the reliability of gas supply; the tasks and responsibilities of the authorities involved in emergency management in the natural gas sector will be clarified; the necessary legal framework will be created to ensure the transparency of the wholesale natural gas market in order to exclude abuse and / or actions to manipulate the natural gas market; ambiguity in the interpretation of actions that could be regarded as market manipulation in connection with the obligations imposed on the participants in the natural gas market who own inside information will be eliminated. ANRE will be able to ensure effective monitoring of the wholesale natural gas market and will have the necessary means for operational intervention to prevent and counteract market manipulations and abuses by participants in the natural gas market, including through the application of specific sanctions for this purpose. The amendments stipulate that the guaranteeing supplier is obliged to ensure the storage of natural gas volumes sufficient to cover gas consumption during two winter months. ANRE will determine the volume of gas to be stored in accordance with this regulation and update these volumes as required. If there is more than one guaranteeing supplier, then the gas stocks should be divided in proportion to the market shares of these suppliers. The amount of stored natural gas can be used in whole or in part by the decision of the Commission in emergency situations. The volume of stored natural gas can also be used in whole or in part by the supplier who owns it in order to reduce the cost of purchasing natural gas in the event of high gas prices on international markets, provided that it has a stable and guaranteed contract for the purchase of gas for at least six months of consumption. In this case, the stored natural gas must be recovered within a maximum of 6 months from the start of using the gas stocks. It is stipulated that storage costs and reasonable financial costs associated with the purchase of stored gas should be taken into account when setting the regulated prices of this supplier based on supporting documents. The cost of stored natural gas should be taken into account by ANRE when setting regulated prices for this supplier when using these volumes of natural gas. The government may establish a public service obligation for a natural gas trader or supplier to ensure the storage of natural gas. Natural gas purchased in accordance with this clause will represent a state reserve in accordance with the Law on State and Mobilization Reserves, and the trader or supplier holding it is the responsible depositary. The amount of stored natural gas is used by the decision of the Emergency Situations Commission or by the decision of the government. The Natural Gas Law introduces a special article concerning trading activities, which describes in detail the rights and obligations of such companies operating on the wholesale natural gas market with a license. At the same time, a trader cannot simultaneously have a license for trading activities and a license for the supply of natural gas. It is also stipulated that gas suppliers are obliged to conclude and renew contracts for the supply of natural gas within a reasonable time frame and submit them for information to ANRE at least 30 days before the expiration of the previous contracts. ANRE will conduct a market research at least once every 2 years; based on the results of this research, the necessary and proportionate measures will be established to encourage competition in the natural gas market and, therefore, to create the necessary conditions for increasing the efficiency of the gas market. It was agreed that if, based on the results of the market research, the agency discovers that the relevant natural gas market is not effectively competitive, then ANRE will establish enterprises with a significant market share and impose regulatory obligations or measures on them. In identifying enterprises with a significant market share in natural gas, the agency will use methodologies for assessing the situation similar to those established by the Competition Law. In the case of cross-border markets, ANRE will conduct market research in cooperation with other regulatory authorities and has the right to seek the opinion of the Energy Community Regulatory Committee. It was agreed that ANRE will be able to charge fines of 1% to 5% of the annual turnover of license holders for violation of the legislation on natural gas, depending on the violations. // 01.12.2021 - InfoMarket
