Tofan: Moldova will seek gas everywhere except Russia

Tofan: We’ll go everywhere to look for gas; the only place we won’t go is to the Russians and Putin

Prime Minister Vasile Tofan maintains that the Republic of Moldova must seek natural gas supplies from all countries where there is a possibility of securing favourable contracts, including Qatar, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. According to him, the authorities will, at the same time, seek to secure lower prices through long-term contracts and maximise compensation for the population during the cold season.

Vasile Tofan

Add Logos Press as a preferred source on Google

“Wherever this gas is, that is where we will go to find it and bring it back to Moldova. And it is very important that we do this. Whether in Qatar, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan or any other country, it is complicated. But we will go and look for this gas, no matter how complicated it may be,” said Vasile Tofan at the start of the Cabinet meeting.

The Prime Minister emphasised that securing prices below market levels will require difficult negotiations and that the authorities must not assume that suppliers will automatically offer cheaper gas.

“And the negotiations will be very complicated if we are to manage to secure prices below the market rate. We must not believe that someone is just sitting there waiting to sell gas below market price for the New Year. We won’t go to the Russians, we won’t go to Putin.”

According to Tofan, one of the solutions for easing the pressure on consumers is to enter into long-term contracts, whereby at least part of the gas price is fixed.

“So that we can prepare for next winter and try to find some long-term contracts after all, to fix the price – to try to fix the price, at least for a portion of the long-term contracts.”

The Prime Minister stated that the gas price taken into account in the budget planning was 30 euros/MWh, equivalent to approximately 360 dollars per thousand cubic metres. Meanwhile, the price has exceeded 84 euros/MWh, which, according to Mr Tofan, amounts to over 1,000 dollars per thousand cubic metres.

In these circumstances, the Government is also considering the possibility of increasing the support provided to the population through compensation.

“The second thing we can do is maximise compensation. From the little we have, we must maximise compensation during the winter period. That is something we can do. And in this regard, we must also look at budgetary resources and we must also look to our external partners with whom we are in daily discussion.”

Tofan noted that the authorities are in daily discussions with external partners regarding the identification of the resources required for compensation.

This story was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence.The translation was also reviewed by the Logos Press editorial team.

How did this story make you feel?