The works for the Romanian-Moldavian gas pipeline will be launched today and the European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger will attend the inauguration ceremony.
The Prime-Minister of Romania Victor Ponta and the Prime-Minister of the Republic of Moldova Iurie Leancă, will jointly inaugurate the launch of the works for the realisation of the gas interconnector between Ungheni (West of Moldova) and Iaşi (East of Romania). The ceremony will be held at the bank of the River Prut near Ungheni at 13 hours Brussels time or 14 hours Moldova time.
Oettinger, said about the Romanian-Moldavian gas pipeline. “This is a historic day - we are celebrating that Moldova will be directly connected to the EU gas market. This will enhance its energy security and reduce its dependence from the only supplier it has now.”
The 42 km long interconnector is the first and only direct gas pipeline connecting Moldova and the EU. The Romanian-Moldavian gas pipeline named ‘Ungheni-Iaşi pipeline’ will have a maximum transportation capacity of 1 billion m3/annually, covering around 1/3 of the gas consumption in Moldavia.
According to the press release, for the very first time in history, Moldova will be able to get gas directly from the EU and international markets. Until now, Moldova is 100 per cent dependent on imported natural gas from Russia and has no domestic gas production.
Since 2010, Moldova is member of the “Energy Community” which aims to extend the EU internal energy market to EU neighbours. The aim of the Union is to integrate the Energy Community members to the EU market by legislation but also by connecting them physically to the European energy market.