If the 1.05 billion lei loan that Energocom offers to Moldovagaz is not repaid by May 1, 2023, the state will take over the natural gas transmission networks, Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița stated on Wednesday after the Commission for Exceptional Situations decided to lend money to Moldovagaz for this to be able to pay the advance for October to Gazprom, IPN reports.
On Wednesday, the Commission for Exceptional Situations decided to provide a loan of over 1 billion lei to Moldovagaz, which is to pay to Gazprom for the consumed gas. The loan is to be repaid by May 1, 2023 at an interest rate of 21.5% a year. Moldovagaz will put its 100% shareholding in Moldovatransgaz up as collateral.
“We must offer fewer reasons to Gazprom to disconnect us again. Regrettably, we must help Moldovagaz to solve its liquidity problem. Moldovagaz needs this sum of 1.05 billion lei to pay the advance for October to Gazprom. We agreed that Energocom will help Moldovagaz by offering this loan at the base rate of the National Bank of Moldova, which is of 21.5%, and the transmission networks that are of strategic importance for the country’s energy security will be put up as collateral,” Natalia Gavrilița stated in the program “Secrets of the Power” on JurnalTV channel.
The official said that this way Moldovagaz will fully honor its obligations to Gazprom and an eventual decision by the Russian gas company to stop supplying gas to Moldova will be based on political reasons not on economic ones.
“We will go to court if we are disconnected. Also, if this loan is not repaid by May 1, 2023, the state will take over the natural gas transmission networks. We acted through the agency of the Commission for Exceptional Situations, with derogation from the law that requires the Administration Board’s decision for approving the pledge,” noted Natalia Gavrilița.
The official said that the amounts of natural gas supplied by Gazprom to Moldova in October are by 30% lower than the necessary volumes and no additional volumes were stored for November, which means that the gas supplies next months can be by 60% lower than the necessities.
