The Government approved the Plan of Measures to prepare for the heating season 2023-2024.
The document provides for three possible scenarios for the development of the situation and an action plan corresponding to each of them. The first scenario - the absence of restrictions in the supply of natural gas by Gazprom - assumes that gas and electricity supplies to Moldova will be carried out under normal conditions, respectively, no special measures will be taken. The second assumes the hypothetical preservation of natural gas supplies by Gazprom within the limits of 5.7 million cubic meters per day (or 42% less than specified in the contract) and the development of two situations. In the first one, Moldovagaz decides on the distribution of 5.7 million cubic meters per day supplied by Gazprom between the right and left banks in proportion to the share of consumption recorded in 2021, excluding the volume of natural gas supplied by MGRES for the production of electricity intended for consumers on the right bank. In the second, Moldovagaz decides to allocate 5.7 million cubic meters of gas supplied by Gazprom per day to consumers on the left bank of the Dniester, including for the production of electricity for consumers on the right bank. In the case of the implementation of the second scenario, a 10% decrease in temperature in the centralized heat supply network is envisaged; transition to alternative fuels of sugar factories Moldova-Zahar and Sudzucker-Moldova, use of formed natural gas reserves. The most pessimistic, the third scenario, developed by the Ministry of Energy, involves the complete termination of the contract for the supply of natural gas signed by Moldovagaz and Gazprom. In this case, the natural gas reserves formed by Energocom will be used, the transition of Termocom JSC to the partial use of alternative fuel in the production of heat energy (fuel oil - by 50%), the implementation of the mechanisms established in the interconnection agreement between the gas transportation operators of Ukraine and Romania, and the use of EBRD borrowings for the implementation of the Natural Gas Supply Security project (Phase 2). When developing scenarios, the Ministry of Energy took into account the current geopolitical context associated with the war in Ukraine and the politicization of energy trade by the Russian Federation, which increased the risks of energy supply in all European countries. At the same time, the limited ability of Moldovan consumers to pay for expensive energy resources may become the main vulnerability in the next heating season. A set of measures was also proposed to reduce natural gas consumption in the next heating season: daily monitoring of the rational consumption of energy resources in public and commercial premises; organization of campaigns to inform consumers about ways to reduce consumption; the use of biomass in the production of heat for heating buildings of public institutions; assessment of growth in demand for firewood and coal. In addition, the Ministry of Energy has developed a set of measures to prevent the possible impact of a crisis with natural gas supplies, defining specific tasks for each department and enterprises in the energy supply sector.//02.08.2023 – InfoMarket.
