Moldova offers to pay Gazprom $8.6 mln out of $709 mln debt – Kommersant

The Moldovan government offered Gazprom (MOEX: GAZP) to pay $8.6 million out of the $709 million debt, Energy Minister Viktor Parlikov said following the audit. The rest of the amount will be challenged by the Moldovan authorities in court.

The debt of $709 million is the figure for March 2022. According to the minister, $276 million of the total debt has not been documented by Moldovagaz and Gazprom, another $400 million is not recoverable due to the statute of limitations. Therefore, the auditors suggested that Moldovagaz pay $8.6 million and then initiate a series of claims in a financial court.

“This is the proposal that we sent to Gazprom. We are waiting for a reaction. There are procedures. The results of the report must be approved by the supervisory board of “Moldovagaz”. Let’s see how it all starts, but this is the position of the government of the Republic of Moldova,” Viktor Parlikov said. According to him, “Moldovagaz” is not yet ready to evaluate the audit of the debt to “Gazprom”, since the results were provided only on Wednesday morning.

In 2021, the Moldovagaz company renegotiated the agreement with Gazprom on the supply of Russian gas for five years. The agreement was concluded on the condition that Moldovagaz repay the debt, which was then estimated at $709 million. In November 2022, Gazprom threatened reduce supplies to Moldova due to the fact that part of the raw materials “settled” in Ukraine. As a result, Gazprom decided not to do this. Since December, Moldova has refused to supply gas from Russia.

Anastasia Larina