The Republic of Moldova grows less dependent on Russian oil

The Republic of Moldova is importing fewer oil products from Russia, with Romania now becoming its main supplier.

Ştefan Stoica, 01.04.2024, 13:50

In 2023, Romania was again the biggest supplier of oil products for the Republic of Moldova, according to the data published by the National Agency for Energy Regulation in Chişinău. Moldova last year imported almost 1 million tonnes of diesel oil, petrol and liquefied gas, up almost 7% compared with the previous year, to see a full recovery of the oil product market after the consecutive crises generated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the start of the war in Ukraine, according to energy experts quoted by Radio Chişinău. Diesel oil was the most imported oil product, with a share of almost 75%. Almost all the petrol imported by Moldova comes from Romania, as well as 70% of diesel oil. Russia, which was once one of the biggest suppliers of oil products for the Moldovan market, last year provided only 1.7% of Moldova’s diesel oil imports.

In another move, the Romanian government extended the obligation imposed on Romanian producers to close direct contracts for electricity sales to Moldova if need be. The reason for this move is that the authorities in Chişinău may be faced with a shortage of electricity from the power plant located in the break-away region of Transnistria and which is its main source.

The Romanian media recently noted that the interconnection of the energy and gas grids of Romania and Moldova was a major economic and strategic objective for Bucharest, with a memorandum signed by the states becoming a government decision. The latter document writes that there is common will to integrate Moldova into the European energy market and for Romania to provide energy to this state for the long term. In the field of natural gas, the two sides intend to develop projects aimed at interconnecting the two states by looking into ways to boost bidirectional natural gas transport capacity, extending pipelines and enhancing natural gas storage capacity on Romanian territory.

The two sides will also work to maintain a minimum level of crude oil and oil products reserves and will sign a bilateral agreement to provide for the identification of storage facilities to create emergency stocks for Moldova in Romania. Romania and Moldova also pledge to promote the objectives of the memorandum before the European Commission and other international financing institutions in order to secure the funds needed to meet these objectives, as well as specialist advice.