According to the draft, Moldova will be obliged to build fuel reserves equivalent to a minimum of 90 days of net imports or 61 days of domestic consumption, whichever is higher. Currently, such reserves are not available in the required volume and do not meet European Union standards.
The reserves will be formed according to a mixed model: part will be managed by a central state structure and part will be entrusted to importers of oil products. The system will be introduced gradually, over several years, to ensure a gradual accumulation of the necessary reserves.
As Logos Press has already written, to finance this mechanism, a special levy will be introduced, included in the price of fuel (gasoline, diesel and liquefied gas), in the amount of about 0.48 lei per liter or kilogram at the initial stage. Of this amount, part will be allocated to the creation and administration of state reserves through a specially created structure, while another part will be used to cover the importers’ costs of maintaining these emergency reserves. At this stage, the total annual burden for citizens and the economy is expected to be about LE 528 million.
Once the system is fully implemented and the necessary stocks are built up, the contribution is planned to be reduced to about 0.25 lei per liter or kilogram. In this case, the annual cost for the economy is estimated at about 275 million lei. The aim of these measures is to create a sustainable financing mechanism for the formation and maintenance of fuel reserves needed in case of crises or supply disruptions.
The National Energy Regulatory Agency will oversee the fulfillment of importers’ obligations, while the Ministry of Energy will coordinate the overall implementation of the system.
If adopted, the law will create for the first time in Moldova a full-fledged national energy security system for petroleum products, harmonized with EU standards. The implementation of the system will be gradual and will take up to eight years. During this time, it is planned to create a storage infrastructure, implement monitoring mechanisms and form an institutional framework.
