Pridnestrovie will be obliged to make an advance payment for gas if Gazprom stops deliveries

Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilitsa said that if Gazprom no longer supplies gas, the republic will conclude contracts with other companies. In this case, Transnistria must pay an advance payment for gas supply. Previously, Moldovagaz, 50% of whose shares are owned by Gazprom, several times asked for a debt deferment from the Russian company. At the end of August, Moldovagaz paid for gas supplies for the first half of the month.

“We have an incomplete audit of the Moldovagaz company, we sent letters to Gazprom with a request to extend this period. Gazprom did not tell us clearly whether it would supply natural gas to Moldova after 1 October. The risk that the Russian company will completely close the gas valve remains. If this happens, we will have to buy gas on the international market or from partners at a favorable price, we must first of all pay for the consumed gas and pay in advance. It is impossible to deliver natural gas to Pridnestrovie without prepayment,” the prime minister said on the air of a public TV channel. “Moldova-1”.

In October 2021, Gazprom extended the contract for gas supplies to Moldova, subject to timely payment of debts. However, Moldovagaz postponed payment in 2022 for January, July, August, September. Because of the delays, Gazprom warned Moldova several times about a possible cessation of supplies. At the end of August, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said that Gazprom could turn off gas, and “even if they don’t turn it off, the trend is that gas prices will become unbearable.” In 2020, she refused to recognize the gas payment debt accumulated by the residents of Transnistria, sayingthat the right bank of the Dniester, controlled by Chisinau, has almost no debt.

About the situation with gas in Moldova – in the material “Kommersant” “Moldova will break wood”.

Polina Sobakina