New tariffs on natural gas could increase on average by 10-12 percent

The new tariffs on natural gas could be applied in early February and will increase on average by 10-12 percent. The increase in tariffs will be applied according to the increase in price of natural gas from 160 to 170 USD per thousand cu m. The president of JSC “Moldova-Gaz”, Ghenadie Abaschin, announced on Thursday, January 4, during a press conference, that he would shortly request the National Agency for Energy Regulation (ANRE) to increase the tariff. According to one of the clauses in the five-year contract signed on December 30 with the Russian company “Gazprom”, the tariff on gas in the following years will increase gradually, by 10-15 percent depending on its price on the international market. Up to 2011, the tariff on gas, according to a preliminary evaluation, should reach 250 USD per thousand cu m. Abaschin recognised that, during the negotiations with “Gazprom”, talks regarding the taking over of the Transnistrian quota by the Russian company also unfolded. He said that the R. Moldova, however, has not yet accepted this proposal. Abaschin specified that Tiraspol expressed their agreement to give up the 13% quota in the enterprise in favour of the Russian company. In this case, “Gazprom” could hold 64% of the shares of the JSC “Moldova-Gaz”. According to Abaschin, Transnistria’s debt on gas currently totals approximately 1.14 billion USD. Premier Vasile Tarlev previously stated that the debt of the consumers, except for Transnistria, consists of 220 million USD. According to the prime-minister, a special work-group will continue negotiations with “Gazprom” regarding the identification of “mutually advantageous” projects. The Russian company, as partner of “Moldova-Gaz”, was invited to take part in the construction of branch lines, natural gas networks in the RM and to invest in the modernisation of CETs (power plants), including CET-1 and CET-Nord. Tarlev also stated that Moldova did not give up absolutely anything out of national interest, and that the settled price was a result of negotiations alone. The gas tariffs paid by consumers in the last half of the year constituted 2335 lei per thousand of cubic meters. Household consumers with a monthly consumption of up to 30 cube meters (including) paid 2196 lei/thousand c. m., and for those who consume more than 30 cube meters, as well as for other final consumers, the tariff was 2812 lei. The tariff on natural gas for thermo-electric plants (CET) was 1745 lei/thousand c. m., for thermal plants – 2057 lei.