The Russian gas giant Gazprom confirmed the gas volumes for September and extended the time limit for conducting an audit for determining the debt owed by Moldovagaz until October 1, Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu, Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development, announced after discussions with Gazprom director general Alexei Miller, IPN reports.
According to Andrei Spînu, the discussions centered also on Moldovagaz’ capacity to pay a higher price for gas and on the supply of gas the coming winter. “We informed that it is not possible to perform the audit by October 1 and reiterated the necessity of extending the time limit until March 31, 2023. We will continue the discussions in the immediate period,” the official posted on social media.
The minister also said that Energocom signed three contracts for the supply of electricity in September. A contract for the supply of 67% of the necessary power at the price of 59.9 USD/MWh was signed with the Transnistrian plant MGRES. For the supply of 30% of the power at the price of 77 USD/MWh, a contract was signed with the Ukrainian company Energoatom. A contract for the supply of 3% of the electricity for balancing out peak demand, at the price of 100 USD/MWh, was signed with Ukrhydroenergo.
The weighted average price for August is 66.23 USD/MWh. Andrei Spînu said the electricity price for the citizens and for the economy will not change.
Moldovagaz recently transferred USD 16.74 million to Gazprom to fully pay in advance 50% of the gas consumed in August.
The contract for the supply of gas between Moldovagaz and Gazprom was signed last October for a period of five years. Under the annex of the contract, the Moldovan side is to perform an independent audit to determine the debts to Gazprom accumulated by Moldovagaz in 1993-2021. After the audit, Chisinau is to agree a schedule for paying the debts owed by the right side of the Nistru.
But a contract to perform the audit could be signed only in August 2022 owing to the Russo-Ukrainian war, as the Moldovan authorities explained. The contracted companies, one from Norway and another one from the UK, undertook to conclude the audit by January 30, 2023. In an interview for Vocea Basarabiei radio station, President Maia Sandu said that Gazprom initiated an own audit to determine the debts even if the contract stipulates that this is the responsibility of the Moldovan side, which is of the Moldovan Government.
The audit covers only the right side’s debt accumulated during about 30 years, which is estimated at approximately USD 700,000, but does not refer to the debt of the left side, which is valued at USD 7-8 billion. In the period, Russia allowed Tiraspol to pay almost nothing for the consumed gas.
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