Official: Moldova in talks with Azerbaijan over gas supplies

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Moldovan deputy premier and infrastructure minister Andrei Spinu has said that his government is discussing gas supplies from Azerbaijan, Azernews reports.

"There are real chances that Moldova will buy gas from Azerbaijan, it will be an opportunity to diversify the sources of supply. I will not name specific dates, but in the coming years we are guaranteed to have an alternative," he said.

He added that the issue of the cost of Azerbaijani gas has not yet been agreed upon.

The Moldovan government has expressed its intention to diversify sources of gas supplies in order to reduce dependence on the Russian market.

To recall, with the completion of the TAP (Trans-Adriatic Pipeline) construction on December 31, 2020, Azerbaijan began commercial gas supplies to Europe via the Southern Gas Corridor. The European Commission's Southern Gas Corridor initiative aims to build a natural gas supply route from the Caspian and Middle Eastern regions to Europe. The route from Azerbaijan to Europe consists of the South Caucasus Pipeline, the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP), and TAP.

Last year, TAP transported 8.1 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe. By late 2022, Azerbaijan plans to increase gas supplies to Europe to 9.1 billion cubic meters, and in 2023, the volume of gas supplies is expected to reach 11 billion cubic meters.