Prolonged audit of Moldovan debt causing misunderstandings with Gazprom - Moldovagaz head
CHISINAU. Feb.2 (Interfax) - Moldovagaz is continuing to discuss current issues related to the volume of gas supplies and payments with Gazprom ; yet, there is a misunderstanding, Vadim Ceban, head of the Moldovan company, said on TV8 on Wednesday evening.
"We are continuing a dialogue with Gazprom; I was recently in Moscow. We discussed various current issues. This is a technical dialogue - about the delivery volumes, payments, etc. Unfortunately, there is no dialogue between the shareholders now," Ceban said. The main shareholders of Moldovagaz are Gazprom - 50% and the government of Moldova - 35.33%. "There is a certain misunderstanding," Ceban said, which is primarily due to disagreements on the issue of historical debt and the associated audit.
"The results of the audit should be available in the near future. I cannot comment on this issue. There were various rumors; they said that Gazprom would not recognize these results a priori. It is too early to say. Everyone is waiting for the results of the audit - both the Moldovan government and Gazprom. I think later the results will be discussed at a meeting of the board of directors. Let's see how the dialogue pans out," Ceban said.
In addition, Ceban said that Moldovagaz was currently buying gas from traders at better prices than those offered by Gazprom. He recalled that since October 1, Gazprom has reduced the daily volume of gas supplied to Moldova by 30% - to 5.7 million cubic meters per day, while there is a requirement for 8.06 mcm. "Gazprom explained this as a result of technical problems related to the restriction of gas transit through Ukraine. The Ukrainian company claims that there are no problems. One way or another, since October and until now, Gazprom has been supplying the same volume of gas to Moldova - 5.7 mcm per day," the head of Moldovagaz said.
He also recalled that, under an agreement with Transdniestria, the entire volume of gas is supplied to the left bank of the Dniester, and the Moldavskaya thermal power plant there supplies about 60% of the electricity consumed in Moldova to the right bank. "For consumers on the right bank of the Dniester, Moldovagaz now buys gas from Energocom, a state company. This is gas from previously created reserves, and it is bought daily on the market. I want to say that now the price on the market is lower than the price from Gazprom, which is calculated monthly according to the contract terms. This means that even if Gazprom agreed to supply the volumes we need, we would still buy from Energocom. Legislation obliges us to buy gas where it is cheaper," Ceban said.
Earlier, Ceban said that the preliminary purchase price of Russian gas for Moldova in February would be $1,054 per thousand cubic meters.
The price of gas from Gazprom for Moldova in January was about $1,230 per thousand cubic meters. According to Energocom, the average price of gas consumed by Moldova in December 2022 from sources other than Gazprom was $1,094.44 per thousand cubic meters.