November 10 (SeeNews) - Moldova's consumption of natural gas fell by 10.6% on the year to 679.07 million cubic metres in the first nine months of 2009, the country's energy regulator, ANRE, said on Tuesday.
Gas imports fell by an annual 10.7% to 734.08 million cubic metres through September, ANRE said in a statement.
Consumption and imports decreased mainly due to lower gas intake by corporate clients and companies operating in the country’s energy sector, ANRE said.
Moldovan companies slashed their gas consumption by 27.1% year-on-year to 145.37 million cubic metres in January-September, while energy companies cut intake by 8.3% to 292.12 million cubic metres, ANRE said.
Gas consumption by Moldovan households was down by an annual 1.4% to 211.19 million cubic metres in the first nine months of 2009, ANRE said.
Energy companies accounted for the highest share in total consumption over the review period at 43%, it added.
Moldova relies entirely on imports of Russian gas to meet its gas needs. Russian gas giant Gazprom, the sole supplier of gas to Moldova, has set the price of natural gas it supplies to Moldova at $186.85 (124.5 euro) per 1,000 cubic metres for the third quarter of this year, down by 27% compared to the second quarter of 2009.
Gazprom sets the price of its gas deliveries to Moldova quarterly, factoring in the average purchasing price for European countries and fluctuations of global oil and gas prices.
($=0.6668 euro)