Moldova-Gazprom: “Unsuccessful relationship”
The function of the Moldovagaz enterprise, 50% of the shares of which belongs to Gazprom, has been reduced to the transfer of all gas entering Moldova (5,7 million cubic meters per day) to Transnistria. Payment for these supplies hangs over the enterprise as a debt due to the unrecognized status of the PMR.
The general director of Moldovagaz, Vadim Ceban, admitted this in an interview with the pro-Western Moldovan TV channel TV8, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The last purchase was in March - only 2 million cubic meters. We transferred some of the volumes from the left bank that they did not consume to the right bank. We paid,” Cheban said.
The main gas supplies to Moldova are carried out by 25 private companies that purchase “blue fuel” from European traders.
“Technically, it could be Russian gas due to virtual reverse. But the owner of this gas is European companies,” the head of the company clarified.
This operation looks profitable, since gas prices in Europe have fallen and, including delivery, are $350 per thousand cubic meters. Gazprom's contact price is formed according to a formula with a time lag of six months. Now it remains 660 dollars per thousand cubic meters, but by the new year it will go down.
But in any case, Moldovan household consumers practically do not feel the benefits of the market. They are supplied with gas from Ukrainian underground storage facilities, purchased last year in Europe at a price of over $1000 per thousand cubic meters. Based on this price, tariffs for the population are formed.
It is not yet clear whether Moldova will take advantage of the lower price of Russian gas in six months. Chisinau has still not carried out an audit of old debts, which according to the contract should have been completed a year ago. The Moldovan government first excluded Gazprom from participating in the procedure, then attracted Norwegian and British companies to it, but still has not paid for their services.
Formally, the Russian monopolist has every reason to terminate the contract, but so far he has limited himself to reducing supplies by 30% (to be enough for Transnistria). Cheban admitted that he does not see any prospects for increasing supply volumes.
“We have a working relationship with Gazprom, but I would not say that right now, at this stage, it is successful... At the corporate level, of course, there is interaction, but there is no positive dynamics in interaction at the shareholder level. Maybe it will appear after the audit of historical debt is completed,” summed up Cheban.
Moldova, of course, will be able to continue to buy Russian gas from European traders, but low prices in the EU are unlikely to persist until the end of the year. Now they are due to large reserves in underground gas storage facilities due to an unexpectedly warm winter.
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