Moldova joins "vertical gas corridor"

CHISINAU. Jan 19 (Interfax) - Moldova has officially joined the "vertical gas corridor" project, which includes Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, the press service of the Ministry of Energy said.

Energy Minister Viktor Parlikov signed the agreement in Athens on Friday, the ministry said.

"After the accession of Moldova and Ukraine, the vertical corridor will follow the route of the Trans-Balkan pipeline from Ukraine to Greece in the reverse direction. The concept of the vertical corridor is not a traditional separate gas pipeline project, but a system connecting existing national gas networks and other gas infrastructure to ensure gas transit and increase energy security," the statement says.

Parlikov will also discuss other issues of cooperation in the field of gas supplies while in Greece, as well as gas purchases from tankers that bring liquefied gas from the United States.

The day before, Parlikov said that next week, Moldovan state company Energocom would make the first of these purchases from an LNG ship that has arrived at the port of Alexandroupolis in Greece.

As reported, in April last year, Energocom signed a gas purchasing contract with Greek gas operator DEPA. "Moldovan state company Energocom is the first, and so far the only, company in the world with practical experience using the Greece-Bulgaria-Romania-Moldova-Ukraine 'vertical corridor.' Energocom's experience last season using the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector showed the feasibility of using the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline in reverse mode," Parlikov said at the time.

Until the fall of 2021, Moldova bought gas exclusively from Gazprom. Then the country began to purchase gas from alternative sources.