Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița said that the extension of the contract for the supply of natural gas to the Republic of Moldova for a longer period of tome is now being negotiated. The Russian company Gazprom will not agree to keep the price of gas and they are therefore working on a number of population protection measures, IPN reports.

Asked by journalists to comment on the situation concerning the supply of gas, Premier Gavrilița said that an anomaly is witnessed on the foreign markets. The price of gas in the European countries the past two days rose by 60%. The Government is managing the situation so that the consumers have access to natural gas and do not feel the rise in tariffs. They are discussing with Moldovagaz and with Gazprom and are working on social protection programs to alleviate the exceptional rise in tariffs this year.

By a comment posted on its website, Moldovagaz calls on the consumers to reduce the consumption of gas and to use alternative fuels where it is possible. It noted that it bought 54 million cubic meters of natural gas as from October. This is 67% of the 80 million cubic meters of gas needed for the consumers from the right bank of the Nistru. Therefore, the daily consumption of gas in the country this month exceeds the volume supplied by Gazprom. The shortage of imported gas will be covered with the stores from Moldova’s gas mains and the pressure in the natural gas transportation system of Moldovatransgaz SRL will decrease as a result. Negotiations are held with Gazprom so as to increase the volume of supplied gas and to ensure the necessary quality parameters of the gas supply.