Moldova, Gazprom mull gas deliveries via TurkStream pipeline

CHISINAU, Aug 20 (PRIME) -- Moldova is in talks with Russian gas giant Gazprom to receive gas via the TurkStream pipeline, Economic Minister Vadim Brynzan told reporters on Tuesday.

“We are holding negotiations with Gazprom to get gas through the TurkStream pipeline. We plan to initiate four-party talks between Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova to discuss… technical and economic specifics of such deliveries,” he said.

In late 2019, a contract on transit of Russian gas through Ukraine will expire.

Brynzan also said that the discussion will be organized by the European Commission which is to act as an intermediary and that a new head of Moldovagaz Vadim Cheban will be appointed in the next few days to continue negotiations with Gazprom on prolongation or renewal of the gas shipment agreement which expires on December 31.

The TurkStream pipeline was designed to consist of two branches with a length of over 900 kilometers and a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters each. One of them, finished in May 2018, is to carry Russian gas to Turkey, while the other is to transit gas to the European countries through Turkey and is to be finished in 2019.

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