CHISINAU, December 3. /TASS/. Moldova purchased about 80% of the gas needed by the country for the heating season, acting chairman of the Board of the gas distribution company Vadim Cheban said.

"For the heating season from October 2024 to March 2025 we need more than 725 mln cubic meters of gas. So far, we have purchased about 80% of this volume. This is for consumption up to and including January. We are in the process of purchasing volumes for February, then for March," Cheban reported at the hearings organized by the country's parliament.

In total, according to him, the country would need to purchase another 163.4 mln cubic meters of gas.

Cheban noted that the price of the purchased volumes is already included in the existing tariff at the level of 9,300 lei ($512) per 1,000 cubic meters of gas. Last week it was increased by 27% for household consumers to 16,700 lei ($914) per 1,000 cubic meters.

Moldova is experiencing an energy crisis due to rising gas and electricity prices, which has sparked protests in the country. In addition, since October 2022, Gazprom, which was previously the only gas supplier to the country, has reduced its daily supply by 30% to 5.7 mln cubic meters due to problems with transit through Ukraine. In this situation, Moldova has completely switched to purchasing fuel from European suppliers, and Russian gas is being sent to unrecognized Transnistria, where it is also used to generate electricity for Moldova.