Moldova will start building a pipeline that will carry Romanian natural gas to its capital city of Chisinau next spring in a bid to reduce its energy dependence on Russia, a Moldovan government official has said, AP reported on Friday.

The planned pipeline will be an extension to an existing one transporting gas from the Romanian city of Iasi to the Moldovan town of Ungheni, near the border between the two countries.

Romania started supplying gas to Moldova in March this year through the pipeline that is 43 km long.

The new pipeline is expected to cost at least EUR 83 M. Moldova hopes to get EU funding for the project, AP said.

The ex-Soviet country signed an Association Agreement strengthening its ties with the European Union in June 2014.

Moldova has agreed to pay Russia’s Gazprom USD 331.80 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas in 2015 under a contract originally signed in December 2006. The contract expired in 2011 but has been repeatedly extended since then.

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