The specific risks of the energy market of the Republic of Moldova in times of crisis

Abstract

The aftermath of the pandemic crisis and the war in Ukraine has accelerated the rise in the prices of energy resources worldwide. With winter approaching, the sudden energy crisis hitting the world is threatening already strained supply chains, causing geopolitical tensions and raising questions about how ready the world is for a transition to greener forms of energy. The Republic of Moldova, being a net importer of energy resources, obviously would be affected by this phenomenon, and this is due to the fact that the energy security of the Republic of Moldova was ignored for several years by the central public authorities, and the country became totally dependent on the energy resources supplied by the Russian Federation. Thus, at the moment, there are practically no alternatives regarding the supply of energy resources, and the risks of stopping them are very high. Under these circumstances, the state institutions responsible for this sector, in addition to the regulatory aspects, must have the capacity to manage the risks specific to this field. In the long term, however, a broad vision is needed for the field of energy security and diversification of sources, so that such crises are avoided in the future. Based on the above, this article was developed to highlight the problems facing the country's energy sector, in order to overcome the existing crisis. CZU: 620.9:330.131.7(478); JEL: M1, L9, O13; DOI: https://doi.org/10.53486/cike2022.07