As Moldova heads into the 2026-27 heating season, gas tariffs are up, a compensation plan is still being worked out, and European markets remain volatile. Still, the government wants to use recent emergency steps as the foundation for a new energy system.

In an interview with BIRN, Energy Minister Dorin Junghietu talked gas reserves, purchases made by state-owned trader Energocom, the future of Gazprom-controlled Moldovagaz, the risk of another crisis in the breakaway Transnistrian region and the development of electricity interconnections with Romania.

Since autumn 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moldova has sought to reduce its dependence on Russian energy, which had long given Moscow political leverage over the country’s pro-European governments.

Junghietu said there would be no return to Moldova’s old energy model, based on Russian gas supplied by Gazprom and electricity generated at the Cuciurgan power plant, MGRES, in Transnistria using Russian gas, which the separatist region did not pay for in full.