CHISINAU, January 16. /TASS/. Consumption of natural gas in Moldova (excluding Transnistria) decreased by 22.4% in January-December 2023 year-on-year (to 657.2 mln cubic meters), the press service of Moldovagaz said in a statement.

"Natural gas consumption amounted to 657.2 mln cubic meters in January-December 2023 totally worth 14.7 bln leus (764 mln euro - TASS). That said, natural gas consumption totaled 847.2 mln cubic meters totally worth 15.3 bln leus (789 mln euro - ТASS) in 2022," the statement reads.

In 2022, Gazprom, which was previously the only gas supplier to the republic, reduced its daily supply by 30%. The Russian company explained this by technical problems related to the restriction of transit through Ukraine, but Chisinau blamed the crisis on the Russian gas holding. Starting December 2022 right-bank Moldova had to switch fully to buying fuel from European suppliers. Russian gas in Transnistria is also used to generate electricity at the Moldavskaya regional power plant, the main buyer of which is Moldova.