The Moldova National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) has officially designated Energocom as a gas supplier under a 3-year public service obligation, the role previously belonged to Moldovagaz - a company with a majority stake held by Russian Group Gazprom, CeenergyNews reported on May 25.
ANRE's decision states that Moldovagaz will no longer be eligible to take on this role after July 31 due to failure to meet legal requirements on separation of gas supply and transportation.
To ensure continuous supply for about 830,000 households and small businesses, ANRE has organized a selection process to find new suppliers. However, only 2 companies expressed interest, of which 1 unit was eliminated due to not meeting the criteria on conditions. Therefore, the selection process was canceled and ANRE directly appointed the supplier according to the current legal framework.
Energocom was selected based on the following criteria: Operating in the Moldova gas market; having the highest revenue in the industry (356 million euros in 2024); Having been fully separated in terms of functionality and legality from activities not related to gas transactions and supply; Having sufficient necessary resources to ensure the supply of the required volume of gas.
According to ANRE, Energocom will operate within the framework of regulated conditions, with established clear, transparent and non-discriminatory quality standards. The company will also take on a life-saving role for customers who have lost suppliers for objective reasons.
In developments related to Moldovagaz, TASS reported on May 23 that shareholders of this Russia-Moldova joint venture are not willing to sell part of their assets to comply with the requirements of the Third Energy Package (TEP) of the European Union - something the mold government has pledged to do.
Those demands mean we have to sell our assets. First of all, no one will sell. Second, even if we intend to sell, the process takes a lot of time," Moldova's Acting Chairman of the Board of Directorsgaz Vadim Cheban said when asked to comment on Moldova's decision to deprive the company of direct gas distribution rights to consumers.
On May 23, Moldova Prime Minister Dorin Recean announced that Moldovagaz will lose its gas distribution license to the final customer in the supply chain from August 1.
The moldovan Prime Minister noted that the provisions in the TEP stipulate that the company must be divided into 3 separate units: the gas supply unit, the transportation unit and the distribution unit.
Moldovagaz was established in 1999. The company's largest shareholder is Russia's Gazprom Group with a 50% stake. The moldovan government holds 35.3%, and the remaining 13.44% belongs to Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria. Transnistria's shares have now been transferred to Gazprom.
