Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița said that even if the Republic of Moldova started to procure natural gas from alternative sources, it does not give up the talks on a new contract with Gazprom. The signing of an advantageous contract with the Russian gas giant for a year would be a suitable solution for the Republic of Moldova as the authorities could even out the financial burden for the citizens for a period of 12 months. Moreover, the purchase of natural gas from alternative sources envisions the payment of the full price by the citizens from the right bank of the Nistru and by those from the Transnistrian region, IPN reports.
Premier Gavrilița made it clear that as the left side of the Nistru does not pay for natural gas, the provision of the Transnistrian region with gas from alternative sources is in question. Therefore, Chisinau insists on the extension of the old contract with Gazprom, based on the old price calculation formula. The official avoided specifying the price of gas on which the Moldovan negotiators insist in the talks with Gazprom, but said that this is a reasonable price.
“The problem resides in the payment for this gas by the Transnistrian region. When purchases are made from the market, the price is higher and payments are made in advance or agreements are reached as to the payment method. The question is, are the consumers from the left side of the Nistru able to pay? We want to sign a long-term contract with Gazprom, which would be beneficial to the citizens from the right side and also for those from the left side of the river. A contract valid for a year would enable us to even out the payments during a year so that we do not have an exaggerated price in winter. For the Republic of Moldova, we want a price lower than the price for the European countries, which would correspond to the population’s incomes,” Natalia Gavrilița stated in the program “In Depth” on ProTV Chisinau channel.
The official said that Moldova ultimately has the infrastructure that enables it to purchase gas from a number of sources. In October, Moldova received modest volumes of gas from Ukraine and Romania and could maintain pressure in the piping network. But the price of gas on the international market is abnormally high.
“The Iasi-Chisinau pipeline is operational and we received a small amount of national gas through it this month for balancing pressure in the network. The pipeline’s capacity does not enable to supply gas to the whole country in winter. Ukraine lent us 15 million cubic meters of gas and we will pay for this gas later, when the prices are accessible,” stated Natalia Gavrilița.
After a state of emergency was declared in Moldova, the Commission on Emergencies could allocate 1.7 billion lei from the state budget to the state-owned company Energocom for buying natural gas from alternative sources. This way, Energocom signed a contract for a trial purchase of 1 million cubic meters of natural gas with the Polish company PGNiG.
