A new agreement for the supply of natural gas will not be signed with Russia by the end of this year. The country will be supplied with gas based on the old agreement that will be extended, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar announced following a visit paid to Moscow, IPN reports.

“The formula for calculating the price of gas remained the same. Given that the average European delivery price of gas was reduced, next year we may pay by 10% less for 1,000 cubic meters of gas than this year. Currently, Moldova buys gas for US$380 per 1,000 cubic meters, but this does not mean that the charges for end-users will also decrease. We must take into account the latest oscillations in the exchange rate of the euro and the relationship between the euro and the dollar,” Valeriu Lazar said in a news conference.

He informed that the officials of Gazprom expressed interest in Chisinau’s proposal to reschedule the payment of the debt of US$140 million to SA Moldovagaz accumulated by the thermoelectric plants CETs and Termocom over a 15-year period. But the interest is to be negotiated. 

Valeriu Lazar also said that in the meeting with the Russian minister of energy, they discussed Moldova’s relations within the Energy Community and the implementation of the EU’s energy packages II and III. “I made effort to convince our colleagues that Moldova pursues no other goal than to supply the country with cheaper energy resources. Finding an alternative in the supply of gas is for us an economic, not geopolitical matter. We reiterated that the EU offers opportunities to the Russian energy companies too,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.

Moldova and Russia have negotiated a new agreement on the supply of Russian gas to Moldova for almost three years. The agreement that expired on December 31, 2011 has been extended several times.