The leader of the Party of Change leveled new criticism at Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu, accusing him of incompetence and irresponsibility because he accepted the price calculation formula proposed by Moldovagaz – the branch of Gazprom in the Republic of Moldova. He noted that Moldova’s delegation accepted all the conditions of the Russian side, without playing the Transnistrian region as a trump card that could have brought an advantageous price, IPN reports.
According to Ștefan Gligor, Moldova now pays an exaggerated purchase price of gas owing to the disadvantageous price calculation formula.
“The formula negotiated for the next five years is very volatile and is based on the international market price of oil and the price of gas. The share of gas is higher than that of oil. The price of gas in December rose to US$2,700. When 30% of the monthly price of gas is taken, a higher sum against the oil component is obtained eve if the share of oil is 70%,” Ștefan Gligor stated in the program “Friday with Anatolie Golea” on RTR Moldova channel. He noted that Russia wouldn’t have left Moldova without natural gas when the Transnistrian region is fully dependent on Russian gas.
Former Communist MP Alexandr Petkov said Moldova pays a twice higher purchase price owing to the recently modified price calculation formula. “We would have obtained a gas price of at most US$300 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas if the calculation formula had remained the same. The formula was modified by Vadim Ceban (Moldovagaz chief, e.n.) in December 2020, with the intermediation of Dodon (Igor Dodon, then President, e.n.). But the formula was later supported by representatives of the Government. The Moldovan authorities went to the talks fully unprepared,” said Alexandr Petkov.
The purchase price of the natural gas supplied by Gazprom in January is US$646 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas. The rise is due to the higher gas quotations on stock exchanges. The gas rate for end-users in Moldova is now 11.08 lei with VAT included. Representatives of Moldovagaz said that if the purchase price remains higher than 600US$, the rate can be raised to 14.7 lei.
