If Gazprom halts the supplies of natural gas to Moldova, this will not happen owing to the audit, but due to the price calculation formula that will be modified on October 1 and under which Moldova is to pay a lower price, Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu stated after having a telephone discussion with Alexei Miller. The chief of Gazprom refused to extend the period of the audit to determine the debts of Moldovagaz after October 1, but didn’t say it clearly if Moldova will be yet supplied with gas or not after this date, IPN reports.
Andrei Spînu said that Moldova has honored its obligations to Gazprom by paying for the gas supplies and the advance for half of the next month. But the country does not manage to complete the audit to determine the debts of Moldovagaz on time for objective reasons. Owing to the war in Ukraine, foreign companies had avoided Moldova for a long period of time.
“Two important aspects for Gazprom have been discussed until now. Payment for the consumed gas on time. We did this. The second element is the audit to determine the debts. We informed Gazprom that the contract for conducting the audit was signed. We never said that we do not intend to carry out the audit. The process has lasted because of the regional situation. Given that we have a contract for five years, the six-month period does not make a difference I think. From the discussions with Miller, I didn’t understand if they will disconnect the Republic of Moldova from the supply of gas or they will continue the supplies after October 1. I told him that the audit cannot be finished by October 1. When he said that he does not intend to extend the deadline beyond October 1, my perception was that if we will be disconnected, this will happen not because of the audit, but because the formula will be changed and Moldova should be supplied with gas at a much more advantageous price,” Andrei Spînu stated in the program “Good Evening” on the public TV channel Moldova 1.
He noted that Gazprom limited or fully halted gas supplies to much richer states than Moldova. That’s why the Government should be ready for the gloomiest scenarios. Moldova stores natural gas in Romania and is looking for funds to purchase gas at the market piece if need be.
“Even if we do our best to maintain the contract with Gazprom, we see that in many countries of the EU, such as Poland, Lithuania, and Bulgaria, the gas supplies were stopped. We are primarily increasing the gas stores. We have 35 million cubic meters of gas in stores. We raised a loan of €300 million from the EBRD to increase the stores,” stated the official.
A month ago, Moldova signed contracts to conduct an audit to determine the debts of Moldovagaz with a company from Norway and another company from the UK. The audit is to be completed by January 30, 2023. For the provided services, Moldova will pay 15.7 million lei to the two audit companies.
