Moldova’s gas importer and distributor Moldovagaz announced on Monday (Feb. 21) that it has transferred to the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom the amounts due for the natural gas supplied in the first half of February 2022. The value of the transfer was 9.256 million US dollars, this being the final tranche of the 51.256 million dollars, which had to be be paid for that period. In this regard, the Moldovan company’s management thanked the consumers, who paid their gas bills before the deadline.
Moldovagaz also said on Tuesday (Feb. 22) it was preparing an application to the Office of Prosecutor General to investigate a leakage of data after the document between Moldovagaz and Gazprom on gas delivery, signed on October 29, 2021, reached several newsrooms in the country.
On Tuesday (Feb. 22) a part of the agreement between Moldovagaz and Gazprom was published on local media, revealing the formula for calculating the gas to be supplied to Moldova, the contracted gas volume, the cost of transit through the territory of Ukraine and the conditions under which the contract can be terminated.
Moldovagaz director Vadim Ceban reiterated that the document was confidential and would jeopardize the fulfillment of contractual obligations between Moldovagaz and Gazprom.
“Leakage of data constituting commercial secret jeopardizes performance of contractual commitments between Moldovagaz and Gazprom and energy security of the country on the whole. Simply speaking, posting of Addendum No. 19 to the master contract in mass media can break the principle of continuity of gas supplies to the Republic of Moldova,” Ceban wrote in his Telegram channel.
Moldova, a small eastern European nation sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, narrowly avoided a complete stoppage of Russian gas deliveries in November after signing a last-minute deal with Gazprom to extend a Moldovagaz’s long-term agreement with the Russian monopoly on amended price terms for another five years.
Moldova’s government had declared a state of emergency after its gas contract with Gazprom expired at the end of September and the sides tussled over the price and other details of a new deal.
Moldovagaz is a joint Russian-Moldovan company set up by Gazprom, the Moldovan Government, and the Ministry of Industry of Transnistria.
In 2020, Gazprom supplied 3.05 billion cubic meters of gas to Moldova, an increase of 5.5 per cent against 2019 (2.89 billion cubic meters).
In 2021, the government provided Moldovagaz with a $75 million loan to enable it to pay Gazprom and avoid the halt in supplies.
With reporting by Jurnal, Infotag, Tass
