Moldova plans 90-day fuel reserves; draft law under consultation
Authorities are preparing a mechanism that will allow the creation of strategic fuel reserves for approximately 90 days, in an effort to reduce the Republic of Moldova’s vulnerability to possible supply crises and sudden price fluctuations, announced the director of the National Energy Regulatory Agency (ANRE), Alexei Taran. According to him, the draft law is currently under public consultation.
“At the state level, the law on commercial stocks is currently under public consultation. This means that a stock of petroleum products will be created to ensure the Republic of Moldova’s consumption for almost 90 days, both gasoline and diesel,” Taran explained on the program “Banii” on Moldova 1 TV.
The initiative comes amid instability in the oil market and aims to provide the state with an instrument for intervention in crisis situations, including when there are risks of shortages or sharp price increases, the ANRE director said.
“This will help, in the future, to mitigate these crises or situations of shortage, both in terms of the availability of products—because we will already have fuel both in the country and stored in neighboring countries—and in terms of optimizing the cost of petroleum products sold at that time in the country, having already a stock purchased in periods when there was no crisis and when prices were lower,” Taran stated.
Also, he said the authorities intend to expedite the process so that the draft law is adopted “by the end of the year.”
Currently, the Republic of Moldova has limited fuel reserves, covering approximately two weeks of consumption. Given that the country depends almost entirely on imports, any fluctuation on external markets is quickly reflected in prices at the pump.
