Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu admitted that the Russian giant Gazprom as from May 1 can stop supplying natural gas to the Republic of Moldova. This can happen because the Republic of Moldova is unable to perform an audit of the debts of Moldovagaz until May 1, as it is stipulated in the protocol signed with Gazprom. However, Spînu said the Republic of Moldova will not remain without natural gas and the solution is to purchase gas from the market, IPN reports.
Andrei Spînu said that representatives of Gazprom were informed that the Republic of Moldova does not manage to contract the services of a foreign audit company and will be therefore unable to audit the debts of Moldovagaz until May 1. If Gazprom decides to halt the supply of gas, the authorities have alternative scenarios.
“After May 1, we can purchase gas from the market and we will do this. The country will not remain without gas. We worked out different plans. If Gazprom decides not to supply gas to our country, we will have alternatives. The option is to buy gas from the market, as we did in October. The good news is that gas consumption in May is much lower than in winter. We will cope. We saw a dramatic situation on the gas market when the war started, but we see that the prices started to decline. In summer, the prices at stock exchanges are usually much lower than in winter. In the middle of April, we will know the approximate purchase price of gas for May,” Andrei Spînu stated in a special edition on the public TV channel.
He confirmed that the purchase price of gas in April will be higher than US$1,000 per 1,000 cubic meters, as the president of Moldovagaz Vadim Ceban informed. However, the higher purchase price will not affect the gas tariff.
“According to the formula stipulated in the contract with Gazprom, the price for the next month is the average of the prices the previous month. Respectively, the March price will influence the purchase price for April. After the war started in the neighboring country, the price of gas some days was US$3,800. The prices began to decliners and the situation will be clearer soon. At least for April, the gas rate will not be raised,” stated Andrei Spînu.
Currently, household users pay 15.18 lei per 1,000 cubic meters of gas with VAT included. March is the last month for which the Government provides subsidies to partially cover the gas rate.
