Russian Gazprom threatened to suspend gas supply to Republic of Moldova because of accumulated debts, and its subsidiary, MoldovaGaz, called for a tariff increase for the population by 48%. Meanwhile, Romania has suspended deliveries on Iași-Ungheni, according to economica.net.
Gazprom, which holds a 51% stake in MoldovaGaz, sent several notices to the company which controls in the Republic of Moldova, warning her that “will stop deliveries” because of debts.
Armed with notifications from Gazprom, representatives of MoldovaGaz went to the National Agency for Energy Regulation (ANRE) of Republic of Moldova to seek a tariff increase for the population by 48%, reports Deutsche Welle.
“The price has no connection with the company’s debt to”Gazprom”. They (MoldovaGaz – e.n) as justifies as it suits them. Eventually ANRE decision matters”. (…) “Of the 48 percent which were requested by “Moldova-Gaz”, only 4% are motivated – explained by the depreciation of leu against the dollar”, says the former head of ANRE, Victor Parlicov.
ANRE from Moldova announced that in a few weeks will decide on the request to increase the tariffs for the population. “We have two objective factors to take into account: consumer protection – which it should pay a fair price for these services and to offer operators the possibility to develop, make investments”, the Director of ANRE, Sergiu Ciobanu, considers.
MoldovaGaz debt to Gazprom is currently 5.2 billion dollars. 90% of this debt belongs to the Transnistrian region that does not pay anything for years to Gazprom, although the population is paying for gas.
Romania cut off supplies, the amount agreed was delivered
Supply of gas to Republic of Moldova from Romania was interrupted a week ago. In two weeks of delivery, an amount of almost 700,000 cubic meters went to the neighboring country of Romania. Only 16 days, between 4 to 20 March, Romania supplied gas to Republic of Moldova through Iași-Ungheni pipeline. Friday, March 20, shipments stopped and, since then, the supplier, Petrom, did not make other nominations for export. Representatives of Transgaz, operator of the pipe build between Romania and the Republic of Moldova, state that contracted quantities for this month were delivered
The statistic for the two weeks of Romanian gas deliveries to Moldova is not impressive: a total of 668,900 cubic meters went to the neighboring country of Romania. Romania can carry up to 14,000 cubic meters per hour (336,000 cubic meters per day), and after the connection with Chișinău, in the second stage, will be able to transport 175,000 cubic meters per hour, said for economica.net the general manager of Transgaz, Petru Văduva.