Moldova explores ways to generate revenue from natural gas
The Moldovan government is considering selling surplus natural gas on the international market, Minister of Energy Victor Parlicov said in an interview with Jurnal TV. This would be possible if the country has large quantities of gas stored in state reserves.
The minister said that the government is currently able to purchase gas at a favourable price. Selling this gas in the winter, when prices are higher, would generate economic benefits.
"If we have larger volumes of gas purchased, and I do not exclude that, we will sell part of Energocom's volume on the international market and capitalise Energocom. Last year it happened the other way around. Now we are in a different year. Prices have gone down further and we want to buy gas at good prices now to get out of the heating season. This in total could be 800-850 million cubic metres of gas. The difference in the price that we expect allows us and it is convenient now to store this gas," Parlicov said.
In the summer, Energocom purchased 300 million cubic metres of natural gas at an average price of $428 per thousand cubic metres. Currently, Moldova has about 500 million cubic metres of natural gas.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
