Ukraine and Moldova plan to start importing gas from Romania in 2020
Ukraine and Moldova will be able to import gas from Romania through Isakcha-1-Orlovka connection point in the South Odessa region from January 1, 2020, reports Ukrainian national gas transit company Ukrtransgaz on its webpage.
"Ukrtransgaz and Moldovagaz, together with gas transport systems operators of other countries agreed on the necessary technical solutions for creating new import capacities based on the Trans-Balkan pipeline system in the South-North direction (reverse through the Transit-1 pipeline). The main goal of the cooperation is to diversify gas supply routes to Ukraine in preparation for the autumn-winter period 2019/2020," reads the message of the Ukrainian company.
The capacity of the new import route is 1.5 billion cubic meters per year, regardless of the volume of Russian transit gas through the territory of Ukraine.
The gas will be delivered through the Razdelnaya-Izmail and Shebelinka–Dnipropetrovsk–Kryvyi Rih–Izmail main gas pipelines.
Experts of Ukrtransgaz and Moldovagaz agreed on the modernization of border gas measuring stations Grebeniki (Ukraine) and Kaushany (Moldova) to allow them operate in reverse mode.
This project has strategic importance for Ukraine and Moldova because transit of Russian gas can stop in 2020.
The contract for the supply and transit of Russian gas expires in 2020. Moldova wants to establish direct gas imports from Romania, but the Ungheni-Chisinau natural gas pipeline will not be built earlier than mid-2020.
Ukraine imported 10.59 billion cubic meters of gas in 2018. In 2018, 6 461.6 million cubic meters were imported from Slovakia, 3 433.9 million cubic meters-from Hungary, 695.1 million cubic meters from Poland.