Moldova was the first country to demonstrate the economic sustainability of the vertical gas corridor - Victor Parlicov.
The Minister of Energy stated this while speaking at the 28th annual forum of The Economist in Athens. Speaking alongside his Greek counterpart, Theodoros Skylakakis, at a panel discussion on the significant changes in the energy landscape of South-Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, Victor Parlicov emphasized the importance of Moldova joining the vertical corridor, which allowed the transport of natural gas from Greece to storage facilities in Ukraine. In addition, in his opinion, our country has demonstrated the economic sustainability of the vertical corridor. “Because we were the first country to prove that it was technically and economically feasible to deliver gas from Greece to gas storage facilities in Ukraine, we effectively provided technical evidence for a business model that was previously only available to Gazprom.” However, now we are faced with another challenge related to the infrastructure of the vertical corridor, which requires expansion of capacity,” said the Minister of Energy of Moldova. Victor Parlicov also emphasized that Moldova contributed to strengthening energy security in the region precisely by joining the vertical corridor in January of this year, but changes in the field of energy security of the entire region began after synchronization with the European energy system. According to him, unprecedented solidarity showed that changes can be implemented in the shortest possible time, and the next step in this direction should be the integration of Moldova and Ukraine into the European energy market. “Few people realize the significance of the changes and transformations in the energy sector that Moldova and Ukraine have carried out. Our country had no experience in importing gas from other sources, and we have been dependent on an agreement with Russia for 30 years. However, after the stress test provoked by Russia in November 2022, we have proven that we are capable of revolutionary change. All these changes occurred as a result of a crisis that we did not provoke. And synchronization with the continental energy system made it possible to keep the lights on in houses in Moldova when regions of Ukraine were bombed, and the system experienced a shortage of electricity, and energy prices reached historical levels,” said Victor Parlicov. This year's The Economist Forum brought together senior officials as well as prominent personalities from politics, business, finance, international institutions and science, who were invited to engage in constructive dialogue at various levels with the aim of promoting progress in various fields around the world.// 03.07.2024 – InfoMarket.
