Expert-Grup

Expert-Grup: real access to Romania's natural gas market will boost the country's energy security and reduce geopolitical pressure

Friday, 14 June 20192981 views
Expert-Grup: real access to Romania's natural gas market will boost the country's energy security and reduce geopolitical pressure

Automatically translated summary. The full article is available in Romanian.

Experts from the Independent Think Tank “Expert-Grup”, Expert-Forum and the Watchdog.md community presented a report on the prospects of the Ungheni-Chișinău gas pipeline, during and after 2020. They argue that interconnection with Romania is a major priority for the energy security of the Republic of Moldova.

The Iași-Ungheni section was completed in 2014, and the bureaucratic stage for the Ungheni-Chișinău section ended on 2 May 2019, allowing construction to begin. Denis Cenușă urged that the pipeline reach Chișinău as a priority, that Transgaz operations be shielded from Romanian budget and fiscal policies, that EU resources be used, and that Moldovan procurement and environmental law apply without exceptions. Ana Otilia Nuțu stressed real competition and full application of the Third Energy Package.

Sergiu Tofilat said that handing construction to Romania avoided new energy conditionality and the risk of Gazprom seeking control of the pipeline over Moldovagaz's debt, which exceeds USD 7 billion, over 90% of it owed by the separatist region. The experts recommended an online monitoring platform, effective unbundling of producer and supplier, a completed secondary legal framework and a strategy towards Ukraine to manage energy crises.

View the original article in Romanian