The president of Moldovagaz Vadim Ceban said the accumulated debt to the Russian company Gazprom is a commercial debt of Moldovagaz. The debt for which the right side of the Nistru River is responsible is of US$ 715 million, US$ 265 million of which represent penalties, IPN reports.

“The penalties could be annulled if the conflict is resolved, but a relevant agreement should be in place. Moldovagaz is currently unable to clear the Transnistrian region’s debts by its assets. We do not have such assets,” Vadim Ceban stated in the program “Important” on TVC21 channel.

He explained that the main debt of US$ 450 million includes the debts of Termoelectrica to Moldovagaz following its reformation. Termoelectrica started to repay the historical debts. The company’s debt to Moldovagaz was of over UIS$ 150 million. About US$ 200 million of the US$ 450 million to Gazprom can be repaid to the Russian company without increasing tariffs and without involvement from outside. Furthermore, there are particular assets that can be used to settle the debt.

Vadim Ceban noted that over 50% of the company’s shares belong to Gazprom, 35% to Moldova’s Government and over 13% to the Transnistrian region, which is now represented by Gazprom”. This way, the Russian company owns over 63% of the shares of Moldovagaz.

In 2006, the Transnistrian region decided to withdraw its assets from Moldovagaz and, to be able to discuss the repayment of debts, these assets should be returned. The given issue should be dealt with at political level. The Moldovan company’s debt to the Russian gas supplier now totals US$ 7.4 billion, but the largest part of this sum is the Transnistrian region’s debt, stated the president of Moldovagaz.