Moldovagaz will sign amendments to the contract for the supply of natural gas during the next three years with Gazprom by next week. The president of the Administration Board of Moldovagaz Vadim Ceban told a news conference that no essential changes will be made in the contract, IPN reports.
The formula for setting the purchase price of natural gas remained the same. The price will be determined quarterly. As it was preliminarily calculated, the annual average price will be US$173-175 per 1,000 cubic meter of gas.
As to the operation agreements with Ukraine, Vadim Ceban said these were finalized. They are technical agreements for all the interconnection points and transportation contracts. As regards the transportation of gas through the Trans-Balkan corridor, agreements have been already signed with all the operators.
Speaking about the tariff for end-users, the official said it is contrary to the methodology for a company with financial deviations in minus accumulated in 2011-2018 to reduce the natural gas tariff. Discussions will be held with the National Agency for Energy Regulation and, if an agreement is reached as to the spacing out of these deviations, the tariff for next year could remain unchanged.
The current tariff for end-users includes the purchase price of gas of US$178 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas. But the annual average purchase price of the gas supplied by Gazprom this year is estimated at US$222 per 1,000 cubic meters.
Vadim Ceban said the debts for the bought gas add up to US$7.4 billion. The Transnistrian region accounts for the largest part of these debts – US$ 715 million, with a part of this sum representing penalties. The main debt is of US$ 450 million and Vadim Ceban said they bank on the Government’s assistance in finding a solution.
Next year, the 12 distribution networks operated in the region will be substituted by one network that will distribute natural gas all over the country. This will enable to optimize the administrative costs. The company also plans to enter non-regulated business activities, such as the development of compressed natural gas stations.
