Moldova receives first gas via Trans-Balkan corridor from Bulgaria, ready to supply gas to Transdniestria

JSC Moldovagaz made a pilot purchase of natural gas from Bulgaria and received it via the Trans-Balkan gas corridor, acting Moldovagaz CEO Vadim Ceban said.

"The pilot purchase of natural gas in Bulgaria was successfully conducted on the Balkan Gas Hub platform for JSC Moldovagaz on December 31, 2024. The amount of gas purchased stood at 240 MWh. It was transported via the Trans-Balkan corridor through Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine to the Causeni cross-border interconnection point at the border of the Republic of Moldova," Ceban said on his Telegram channel.

Moldovagaz and JSC Energocom, Moldova's state-owned energy importer, "stand ready to provide assistance, including technical and commercial support to Tiraspoltransgaz LLC [the gas transmission system operator in Transdniestria] to arrange natural gas purchases on any European gas platform on market terms to supply power to residents on the left bank of the Dniester amid the current critical situation," he said.

Moldova has forwarded an official letter to this effect to the top management of Tiraspoltransgaz LLC.

"Natural gas may be delivered using various alternate transport routes to the border of the Republic of Moldova under an agency contract with Tiraspoltransgaz LLC," Ceban said.

As reported, Tiraspoltransgaz Transdniestria informed its clients on January 1 that it was stopping to supply them with gas due to the halted gas flow from Russia. Tirasteploenergo, for its part, said that hot water and heating supplies to residential buildings had also stopped in Transdniestria due to the termination of gas supply. The only exception was made for hospitals and social facilities.

Moldavskaya GRES, or MGRES, power plant switched to coal and halted electricity supplies to the right bank of the Dniester River on Wednesday morning. The available Donetsk coal stocks will allow the facility's two power units to run for 50 days. Transdniestria's authorities said they "have developed measures to minimize negative consequences and maintain acceptable conditions for people's life and for the functioning of the region's infrastructure after the gas supplies were stopped." According to the Transdniestrian authorities, the available gas stocks should last for up to 20 days.

The government of Moldova (the right bank of the Dniester River) has said that it will buy the bulk of electricity from Romania, with a further 30% of so to be provided by heat and power plants and local producers from renewable energy sources. For their part, Premier Energy and FEE-Nord 2, which supply electricity to the right bank, asked the National Agency for Energy Regulation on January 2 to allow them to raise their tariffs by 100% and 60%, respectively.

Russia's Gazprom said on the morning of January 1 that Russian gas supply for transit to Europe through the territory of Ukraine ended upon the expiry of the transit contract with Kiev.

The end of Russian gas transit through Ukraine halted gas supply to Transdniestria (on the eastern bank of the Dniester) via Moldova (on the western bank). Gazprom was selling gas to its subsidiary, Moldovagaz, which sent the entire volumes to Transdniestria. Moldova has been buying gas for domestic consumption from European suppliers for several years. It was still buying electricity from the Moldovaskaya GRES in Transdniestria. The power plant used Russian gas to generate electricity.