Moldovan gas reserves in Romanian storage enough for a week in winter, fuel oil and coal are priority - Dep. PM

CHISINAU. Aug 3 (Interfax) - Moldova is headed for a difficult winter, but the country will have gas, heating and electricity, Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister Andrei Spinu said at a press conference on Tuesday.

"For this the government will create gas reserves, ensure imports from alternative sources [other than Russia], switch plants to other energy resources - fuel oil and coal, and promote measures to reduce consumption," Spinu said.

Moldova now has 24 million cubic meters of gas stored in underground gas storage facilities in Romania, which is enough for about a month in summer but only a week in winter, he said.

"The government has already taken measures to ease the impact of the crisis. A decision has been made to create a fund to reduce energy vulnerability [to pay compensation to households], a contract has been signed with the EBRD to receive a loan of 300 million euros [to build up gas reserves and make emergency purchases], 75 million euros have been received from the EU to reduce the impact of the crisis and so on," Spinu said.

He said the government intends to expand the number of "protected consumers" by including all small and medium businesses with daily consumption of up to 600 cubic meters in this category, as well as combined heat-and-power plants that serve households and cannot switch to a different fuel.

"We intend to increase fuel oil reserves. Fuel oil will be the main alternative to gas for Termoelectrica, which provides heating and electricity to Chisinau. We need a total of about 216,000 tonnes of fuel oil, which can replace the 312 million cubic meters of gas needed to cover consumption in the period of October-April," Spinu said.

He said the authorities have already signed the first contract to buy fuel oil that will go into the state reserve. He did not specify the amount, as all information about reserves is a state secret.

"We will also increase the public's access to buying firewood. We will ensure a reasonable price. We will also stimulate coal imports. We have already discussed the main problems in this area with importers. Next decisions will follow to ensure the purchase of at least 100,000 tonnes of coal. The state coal reserve will also be topped up," Spinu said.

He said a government commission will be formed to coordinate actions in the event that gas supplies from Russia are reduced or suspended.