Chisinau, Tiraspol talks fail to find solution to energy problem, work to continue
CHISINAU. Oct 28 (Interfax) - The round of talks held in Transdniestria on Friday ended with Chisinau and Tiraspol officials failing to work out a solution to the energy problem, Moldova's Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Oleg Serebrian told a briefing.
"The meeting was useful. The discussion was to the point and held in a calm atmosphere. Regrettably, we failed to work out a solution on maintaining power supplies from the Moldovan HPP [a hydropower plant in Transdniestria] to the right bank of Dnieper," Serebrian said.
It was decided to set up a working group involving all agencies concerned to continue searching for options, he said.
"Even if it were a partial solution [partial power supplies to the right bank of Dnieper] the specialists will continue working. Besides, we don't yet know how much gas Gazprom [MOEX:GAZP] will deliver in November. We must consider all options, including a full halt of the gas supply from Gazprom," Serebrian said.
Today's meeting, which took place at the Tiraspol office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission, was attended by Serebrian and Transdniestria's Foreign Minister Vitaly Ignatyev, both the official negotiators from their respective sides. Also in attendance were representatives from relevant entities from both sides, the mediators and monitors in the "5+2" negotiation format, i.e. representatives from the embassies of Russia, Ukraine, the OSCE, the European Union and the United States.
Last Friday the administration of Transdniestria said it had to cut the power supply to the right bank of the Dnieper from 70% of Moldova's demand to 27% of the stipulated volume starting October 24, and further down to 23 % starting November 1.
Under its contract with Chisinau, the Moldovan HPP (owned by Russia's RAO UES) is to supply up to 525 megawatts, which is equivalent to 70% of Moldova's power consumption. But now there is a force majeure event and the HPP currently supplies only about half of the 70% share which is stipulated in the contract for October. Before October 13, Moldova made up for any shortfalls by buying from Ukraine. On October 14, Moldova began buying 185-200 megawatts from Romania.
Later Gazprom confirmed it would supply as much gas to Moldova in November as it did in October, i.e. 5.7 million cubic meters per day. According to preliminary data, next month Moldova needs around 13 million cubic meters of gas per day, and two-thirds of this is for Transdniestria, which is generating electricity. If the volumes of gas supply fall, Moldova would be hit by an energy crisis. It is assumed the problem would be solved at the expense of gas reserves (around 95 million cubic meters) and imports of electricity from Romania and other European countries. In addition, Moldova has cut gas consumption by having thermal power stations and several other enterprises switch to fuel oil.