This was stated in an interview Vadim Ceban, acting Chairman of the Board of JSC “Moldovagaz”, said in an interview with Logos Press.
He emphasized that during three weeks of war in Iran, gas futures in Europe jumped in price from 32 to 55 euros per MW on average. This already creates problems on the Moldovan domestic market, as the gas tariff in force for consumers includes an average annual price of 38 euros per MW.
“Therefore, already in April we may enter the situation of tariff deviations, which is always extremely undesirable for the market. We will have to either raise tariffs or look for other ways to stabilize the market. But the difference of 180 euros per thousand cubic meters is a very serious deviation,” – said Vadim Cheban.
At the same time, the current situation, despite all its complexity, is not the biggest “headache” in terms of ensuring energy security of the country, the head of “Moldovagaz” believes. At least because it is at least more or less clear, which makes it possible to take the necessary measures.
The main problem today is how to provide the country with gas reserves for the next winter period, said Vadim Ceban.
“What will be the winter and how to prepare for it – there are much more uncertainties in this. The same futures for fall deliveries today show a negative spread, which discourages operators from any motivation to work for the future. Usually, summer quotations are lower than winter quotations on the market. Therefore, operators make purchases in summer, pump gas into storage to use it in winter. Now the situation is different. Quotations have skyrocketed. And nobody knows in which direction they will swing by the beginning of the fall-winter period”, – said the head of Moldovagaz.
Therefore, today the key question for the Moldovan authorities and the state enterprise “Energocom”, responsible for gas purchases and supplies to the population, is how to buy gas for the winter and pump it into storages or to conclude futures contracts with delivery in the fall or winter. Despite the high turbulence on foreign markets and unclear prospects for quotations on gas markets, this problem should be solved now, emphasized Vadim Cheban.
