Energy Ministry State Secretary Constantin Borosan explained that Tiraspoltransgaz has several viable alternatives for purchasing natural gas to meet the Transnistrian region’s needs.
Borosan highlighted one solution: purchasing gas on the BRM EST Moldova natural gas exchange. In October 2024, Tiraspoltransgaz representatives met with BRM officials to learn about the trading modalities. Moldovagaz, with its extensive experience in BRM transactions, shared its expertise with Tiraspoltransgaz, Borosan noted.
He stated that Tiraspoltransgaz could also buy gas on regional exchanges, such as Bulgaria’s Balkan Gas Hub, and transport it to Moldova’s border. On December 31, 2024, Energocom, under a contract with Moldovagaz, delivered 240 MWh of natural gas to Moldovagaz on a trial basis. “This trial demonstrated that an alternative route for supplying gas to the Transnistrian region through the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline in reverse mode is both commercially and logistically feasible,” Borosan remarked.
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Another viable solution, he added, involves implementing the Energy Package 3 in the Transnistrian region. It would require unbundling supply activities from transmission and distribution, obtaining a supply or trading license, and purchasing natural gas from any global source. “For instance, Energocom has successfully brought liquefied natural gas from the United States,” he pointed out.
On January 1, Gazprom suspended natural gas deliveries to Moldovagaz. Until then, Gazprom directed all supplied gas to Tiraspoltransgaz. As a result, the Transnistrian region’s enterprises stopped supplying natural gas, central heating, and hot water to several settlements. Households in localities under constitutional authorities—Varnitsa, Cocieri, Corjova, Koshnitsa, Dorotcaia, Molovata Noua, Parata, Pohrebea, Vasilievca, Copanca, Hagimus, and Fârlădeni—were also disconnected.
Earlier, Tiraspoltransgaz disconnected several public institutions in constitutional authority-controlled localities, including schools, hospitals, and cultural facilities. The heating supply to Penitentiaries No. 8 and No. 12, as well as the police and prosecutor’s offices in Bender, was also cut off.
According to the government’s crisis cell, 131 schools, 147 kindergartens, and 130 administrative buildings in the Transnistrian region remain disconnected from heating. Tiraspol officials reported that existing reserves would supply unused facilities until January 10 in the region’s north and January 20 in the south.