Transgaz is present in the Moldovan market since 2018, when it bought Vestmoldtransgaz for 8.8 million euros. Last year, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) acquired a 25 % stake in Vestmoldtransgaz.
As of 1 October, Romanian natural gas transmission system operator Transgaz will be able to transfer 5 million cubic meters of natural gas per day to Moldova through the Iasi-Ungheni interconnector.
The pipeline was commissioned last year when the capacity in the Romania-Moldova direction was 1.5 million cubic meters per day. However, the interconnector was used at a very low capacity, since the reforms of the Moldovan natural gas market, and particularly the unbundling of the transmission and distribution activities of the Gazprom-controlled Moldovatransgaz/Moldovagaz, have not been pursued yet.
In the reverse direction, the capacity of the interconnector was increased as well, from 200,000 cubic meters per day to over 900,000 cubic meters per day.