Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu, Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development, is sure that the Republic of Moldova will not remain without natural gas if transit via Ukraine is stopped. The statement comes after Kyiv stopped the transit of 1/3 of the Russian gas transported to Europe. Andrei Spînu also said that if Gazprom decides to terminate the contract for the supply of gas and will stop delivering gas to Moldova, Chisinau will purchase gas from the international market, IPN reports.
In May, Moldova purchases 70% of the necessary electrical energy from the Kuchurgan Power Plant and the rest of 30% from Ukraine’s Ukrhidroenergo. Even if Energorom announced that the purchase price is a commercial secret, Andrei Spînu made public the average purchase price for May, which is US$66.7. He assured that the electricity rates for end users will remain unchanged for now.
“I made public the average price of electrical energy given that this price will be included in the future electricity rates that will be approved by NAER. This price will anyway be made public. In accordance with the law, the rate is adjusted when the negative or positive deviations are higher than 5%. The calculations done by the Ministry show that the deviations are lower than 5% and the rate will therefore not change in May,” Andrei Spînu stated in the program “Thursday with Liliana Barbăroșie” on the public TV channel.
He noted that Moldova can be technically supplied with gas if Ukraine halts the transit. Moldova will have gas even if Gazprom ends the contract for the reason that the audit of the debts of Moldovagaz that the Moldovan authorities were to perform by May 1 wasn’t conducted. Owing to the war in Ukraine, the auditing procedure hasn’t been started yet.
“The good point is that the Iasi-Chisinau gas pipeline is functional. If the transit through Ukraine is stopped, we can bring gas through it or through the Trans-Balkan pipe going via the south of the country. In our case, there are no risks. There are technical solutions for supplying the country with gas. If Gazprom terminates the contract due to the absence of the audit, I’m not tiered to repeat that Moldova will not remain without gas. We are in a much better situation than last autumn. We have much more friends that stand ready to help. We are ready to purchase gas from the market,” said Andrei Spînu.
Yesterday, Moldovagaz called on the consumers to pay in advance for the consumed natural gas as this will enable it to fulfill its contractual obligations to Gazprom. Under the contract, by the date of 20 of each month, the company must pay the equivalent value of the natural gas consumed the previous month and 50% of the value of natural gas contracted for the current month.
