Swiss MET Group is making natural gas available at short notice to supply Moldova and Transnistria at the Ukrainian-Moldovan border crossing point. The supply will start on 14 February and will last for at least a few days, MET Group confirmed.
Source: Energate Messenger
The company is in a position to supply natural gas at any point in Europe. Due to the good business relationship with the Ukrainian transmission system operator Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU), this is also possible at the border between Ukraine and Moldova. MET does not provide any further details of the transaction, including the delivery volume and term of the contract.
The Bloomberg news agency writes that 3 million cubic metres/day will be supplied for 16 days. Moldovagaz will take delivery of the gas at the border and then hand it over to Transnistria's network operator Tiraspoltransgaz. Originally, deliveries were due to start at the beginning of February, but some issues still had to be clarified.
Moldova and the breakaway, pro-Russian province of Transnistria are suffering particularly from the lack of Russian natural gas supplies. At the end of December, Gazprom Export announced that it would stop supplying the Moldovan gas supplier Moldovagaz as of 1 January 2025, as the company had not paid its bills. Moldovagaz was supplied via Ukraine, which could no longer be physically supplied by Gazprom after the end of the Ukraine transit at the beginning of 2025. This meant that it was no longer possible to physically supply the province of Transnistria. This constituent republic can only be supplied from Ukraine. Gas can also be supplied to the rest of the republic from the south via Romania. However, Moldova's energy supply was still affected, as the central power plant for the country's electricity supply is located in Transnistria and is fuelled by gas.
MET hopes that Moldova will also find alternative sources of natural gas, including the package offered by the EU. The EU had promised funds. However, support totalling 60 million euros was rejected as the country would have had to increase tariffs for end customers, according to a press report.