The public utility Moldovagaz forecasts that the price of gas imported from Russia in the first quarter of next year will decrease by 9% compared with the corresponding period this year, IPN reports.
According to a communiqué of the company, the forecast is based on the evolution of oil prices on the international markets over the last several months and the modification of the price of natural gas supplied by the Russian gas giant Gazprom to Western Europe. On November 11, Moldovagaz and Gazprom signed an agreement to extend the contract for the supply of gas to Moldova in 2015.
Under the contract, the basic price of the natural gas supplied to Moldova in 2015 will be set in January, while the calculation price will be set quarterly, taking into account the quotations for gasoil and crude oil on the international stock exchanges. The documents signed on November 11 provide that 2,960 million cubic meters of gas will be supplied to Moldova and that 18,610 million cubic meters of gas will be transported through its territory.
As a result of the negotiations that anticipated the signing of the documents, it was possible to review the inferior calorific value used to calculate the price of natural gas supplied to Moldova. In 2015, the price will be recalculated based on the nominal inferior calorific value of 8,050 kcal/m3, not 7,950 kcal/m3 as the previous years. This will allow reducing the real price of 1,000 cubic meters of gas by US$4 on average.
