GASPROM has informed Moldova that it will stop delivering gas to it in 48 hours if it does not receive the due payment today.
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The company said it was extremely disappointed with Moldova’s failure to meet its obligations.
– The next deadline for current payments is today, November 22. Payment not made. In this regard, Gazprom, in accordance with the agreement, informed the Moldovan side that the delivery of gas to Moldova will be suspended in 48 hours, said Gazprom’s official representative Sergei Kupriyanov.
Meanwhile, the Moldovan gas company – Moldova-Gas – received the notification, but the authorities have not read it yet, said the country’s Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Infrastructure Andrej Spinu.
– I can confirm that Moldovagaz received such a letter, but we have not yet had time to get fully acquainted with it. That is why I will comment tomorrow after I know exactly what is being discussed, he told Spin in a comment for the Deschide.md portal.
Moldovagaz CEO Vadim Ceban confirmed that the company has already received a notification from Gazprom and that it is working on the problem of debt repayment that arose due to the late revision of the tariff.
– Moldovagaz received a notification from Gazprom, it is about the collection of consumption for October and half of the payment for November. We have a special gap, because the purchase price in October was $ 150 [za 1.000 kubnih metara] per tariff, and we bought for $ 800, we are now working on this problem, Ceban told Newsmaker.md.
Last month, Spinu negotiated a recent gas supply agreement with Gazprom. Gazprom’s official representative, Sergei Kupriyanov, said at the time that the parties had agreed that Gazprom would continue to supply gas to Moldova if the country paid off its debt in full and signed a new contract on December 1.
In October, Gazprom and Moldovagas extended their gas supply contracts to five years. After the negotiations, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure of Moldova, Andrej Spinu, stated that the new price of gas in the republic in November will be 450 dollars per thousand cubic meters and that it will change depending on the market situation.
About Moldova’s debt for gas
Debts of Moldovan consumers have accumulated on the state of “Moldovagas”. Earlier, the official representative of “Gazprom”, Sergey Kupriyanov, said that currently Moldovan consumers from the right bank of the Dniester owe about 433 million dollars, and considering the delays in payment, the total amount of the debt reached 709 million dollars. The parties agreed to clarify this figure this year during the audit.
In addition to that debt, consumers of unrecognized Transnistria owe Gazprom a little more than seven billion dollars. As the president of the board of “Moldovagas”, Vadim Ceban, explained, this part of the debt was formed due to the systematic non-payment of consumers from the left bank of the Dniester. The Moldovan government does not recognize that debt, because it does not control the situation in the Transnistrian region.
It should be reminded that Transnistria, in which 60 percent of the population are Russians and Ukrainians, sought to leave Moldova even before the collapse of the Soviet Union, fearing that on the wave of nationalism, Moldova would unite with Romania.
After an unsuccessful attempt by the Moldovan authorities to resolve the problem by force in 1992, Transnistria has effectively become a territory not under Chisinau’s control.
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