Moldova Gas owes Gazprom nearly $500 mln
CHISINAU. Sept 21 (Interfax) - The Moldovan-Russian JSC Moldova Gas owes Russia's Gazprom nearly $500 million, the company's general director, Alexander Gusev, told Interfax.
This debt combined with the Trans-Dniestrian debt is around $4 billion.
"I'm talking about debt since Moldova Gas was formed. Some of this debt was assigned to the company Factoring Finance," Gusev said.
Regarding the Trans-Dniestrian debt, he said a unique situation had emerged on the left bank of the Dniester. "The procurement price of gas is $390, the tariff for households is $87 and that for industry - $120, and the money that comes in from the sale of gas is used not to pay for it but for other purposes," he said.
Gusev highlighted the considerable difference in the price of gas for households in Europe and in Moldova. "European Union statistics show that households are buying gas for an average of $907 per thousand cubic meters in the 27 EU countries, but in Moldova the end-user tariff is around $525, including VAT," he said.
Gusev said gas prices in Moldova might look high in relation to effective demand by households. "But if you take most other goods, for example food, clothing, medicines they, unlike gas, might cost much more than in the EU," he said.
Gas accounts for 30%-50% of he cost of end products in the EU and companies can generate normal profits. "But at Moldova Gas the cost of gas itself represents 85% of the cost of the end product," Gusev said.
Moldova Gas has 22,000 km of gas distribution networks, 7,000 km of which are owned, and 635,600 clients, 625,400 of them households, 8,500 commercial organizations and 1,700 public-sector organizations.
Gazprom supplied Moldova with just over 3 billion cubic meters of gas in 2011. Gas transit via Moldova to the Balkans was 19.8 bcm.