Moldova has imported a record daily volume of natural gas from Romania through the Iasi-Ungheni pipeline.
The Romanian media report that about 2.5 million cubic meters (26.5 GWh) of gas were imported per day, which is almost twice as much as the previous record registered on December 3 on the same route. According to profit.ro, the volume of gas imported to Moldova from Romania via Ungheni exceeds the volume of gas supplied to the RM via Transbalkan corridor via Ukraine, which is only 1.9 million cubic meters (20 GWh). It is underlined that in recent weeks, faced with the reduction of gas volumes supplied by Gazprom, the state company Energocom started buying gas from the regional market (from the Balkans), which was usually transported mainly via the Trans-Balkan corridor. The gas contracted by Moldova went through Bulgaria, entered Romania through the Negru-Voda point and came out through the Isaccea point in Ukraine, from where it entered Moldova. The respective gas comes from the TAP gas pipeline, according to the specialized ICIS publication. The volumes through the Komotini interconnector (Greece/Bulgaria) have increased from 38 GWh at the end of the last month to 88 GWh per day in the first days of December, and this point is listed as the source of gas coming into Moldova. The Romanian media point out that the gas imported to Moldova through Ungheni most likely comes from Romania, but this does not necessarily mean that Energocom has signed a contract with any Romanian producer. These are only physical flows resulting from differences in bandwidth allocation from each interconnection point after different exchanges performed. Thus, it is possible that although Energocom signed a contract to supply gas from another source, it will physically receive gas produced in Romania through the point in Ungheni after various commercial operations. This is not the first time Moldova has imported gas from Romania through Ungheni. On December 3, Moldova received 13.5 GWh through this point, and on December 4, 12 GWh. // 09.12.2022 - InfoMarket
