Agreement on extension of gas supply contract will be signed at end-March

The contract for the supply of natural gas between Gazprom and Moldova will be extended until the end of June. The agreement on the extension of the gas supply contract will be signed on March 28 in Moscow, Info-Prim Neo reports. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar said the signing of the agreement will guarantee that the end-users during the next three months will be supplied with natural gas. ”At political level, there was taken the decision to sign an agreement on cooperation in the energy sector between the Government of Moldova and the Government of Russia. At operational level, officials of Modovagaz and Gazprom will continue the talks on a new contract for the supply of natural gas that will probably be valid for three years,” said Valeriu Lazar. Until the signing of the new agreement, the sides must clarify two important aspects – concerning the signing by Moldova of the EU’s Energy Packages I and II, which dissatisfied Gazprom, and the gas debt of the Transnistrian region. “The situation when the debts are to be repaid by the national operator Modovagaz is not normal as the money paid by the Transnistrian end-users is transferred to the accounts of Transnistrian officials,” stated Valeriu Lazar. As regards the contracts for the supply of electric power, which expire on March 31, the Deputy Prime Minister said that the negotiations are carried out by the operators. “These operators (Gas Natural Fenosa and Energocom) said the offer of their Ukrainian colleagues is 7.5 cents per 1 kW/h, while of the Cuchurgan Power Plant – 7.3 cents per 1kW/h. This is by 20 – 23% higher than the current tariff. The offer is inappropriate as there are no real preconditions for increasing the tariff so much. We will follow attentively the talks, but will be looking for alternatives, including offers on the Romanian market,” said the minister of economy.