Moldova plans to purchase and store in Romania half of the gas needed for the winter, according to Romanian media. Moldova doesn’t have any gas storage capacity.
The gas will likely be bought from OMV Petrom and stored by Depogaz, a Romgaz subsidiary. With the total security stocks of Moldova amounting to 50 million cubic meters (around 530 GWh), it follows that 25 million cubic meters or approximately 265 GWh will be stored in Romania. This quantity represents 0.8% of Romania’s storage capacity through Depogaz and Depomures (33.9 TWh).
Moldovan state energy company Energocom has signed several contracts with natural gas suppliers. The first deliveries to be stored in Romania will be made next month. The company plans to purchase gas from a Romanian and Greek company (DEPA).
In June, Energocom announced that it still had approximately 150 million cubic meters of natural gas in stock out of the total 600 million procured in 2022 for the winter. The remaining gas in stock accounts for about 10% of the resources consumed during the winter. Romania and Moldova are currently negotiating projects to interconnect their natural gas and electricity networks, and a draft Memorandum of Understanding has been developed in this regard.