On a working visit to the United States, Energy Minister Victor Parlicov met with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources in the State Department Geoffrey R. Pyatt, former ambassador to Ukraine and Greece.
The U.S. official expressed unconditional support of the United States for Moldova’s European path, while expressing interest in scenarios after the expiration of the contract for transit of Russian natural gas through Ukraine at the end of 2024. Victor Parlicov gave assurances that there was political will in Chisinau to maintain stability in the region and the Republic of Moldova would not obstruct Gazprom’s gas supply to the Transnistrian region after the contract with Ukraine expired.
Parlicov confirmed that the project had played a major role in securing and diversifying gas supplies in the southern part of Europe and in particular in the Balkan area and had an enormous potential as a strategic pipeline to supply gas also to central Europe by using the gas storage potential in western Ukraine. In this context, the energy minister informed about the intention to create a single entry-exit tariff trading product in the gas systems of Moldova and Ukraine and possibly for the entire Green Corridor, to make it more attractive for traders.
Victor Parlicov thanked the United States for support for energy vulnerable people in Moldova. $80 million of the $300 million package announced last year had been earmarked for this purpose. The remaining $220 million will be used to invest in energy infrastructure.
“The US support will help us meet the conditions for Moldelectrica to become a full member of ENTSO-E and to be part of this organisation as a separate country, not just as a bloc with Ukraine. This will be helped by high voltage lines under construction or planned, including one that the US is financing, as well as electricity storage stations and power plants with internal combustion engines, which will contribute to the development of the electricity balancing market,” said Parlicov. (Moldpres)
