A financing package has been put together for a gas interconnection between Moldova and Romania valued at 95 million USD, supported by EU Bank and EBRD, according to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
The EIB and the EBRD are each lending €41 million and the EU is providing a €10 million grant. The funds will be extended to Î.S. Vestmoldtransgaz, a state-owned company which will build and operate the gas pipeline and the Romania-Moldova interconnector.
The project will complete the connection of the gas transmission systems of Romania and Moldova by linking Chisinau, a major area of gas consumption in the country, to the interconnector between the eastern Romanian city of Iasi and Ungheni, a Moldovan town on the Romanian border. It was built in 2014 to enable Moldova – a country which is more than 90 per cent dependent on energy imports – to diversify its energy sources. The EU provided a €7 million grant for the interconnector.
Dimitri Gvindadze, head of the EBRD’s office in Chisinau, added: “The pipeline will enable Moldova to buy gas from EU markets and will promote measures that will help foreign gas suppliers enter the Moldovan market. This will allow the country to diversify its energy supplies and will strengthen competition in the sector.”
And as part of the package, the Moldovan government has agreed to implement a comprehensive reform package to promote the liberalisation of the energy market and strengthen competition in the sector.
The package has been €92m ($95m) package has been put together by the European Union, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The EIB and the EBRD are each lending €41m and the EU is providing a €10m.
EIB vice-president Jan Vapaavuori said the project “contributes to the diversification of the energy resources for the Republic of Moldova, a country dependent on energy imports. This will help to increase the energy security and support both the liberalization of the gas market in the country as well as its integration in the European energy system.”
