“Moldovagaz” announced its readiness for negotiations with “Gazprom”

CHISINAU, 4 Oct – PRIME. The company “Moldovagaz” is ready to begin negotiations with shareholders in the near future to settle disputes regarding the settlement of the historical debt to “Gazprom”, said on Tuesday the head of the company Vadim Cheban.

Earlier, Gazprom announced that it reserves the right to completely stop gas supplies to Moldova if the country violates its payment obligations by October 20, and also because of a gross violation of the deadlines for concluding an agreement to settle the historical debt of Moldovagaz JSC.

JSC “Moldovagaz”, as before, will make every effort to fulfill its contractual obligations to PJSC “Gazprom” in October. Despite the absence of an audit of this debt, JSC “Moldovagaz” is ready to negotiate with the main shareholders of the enterprise in the near future and put forward specific proposals to resolve disputes,” Cheban wrote on his Telegram channel.

According to him, the coordination of the mechanism for repayment of the historical debt is beyond the competence of the management of “Moldovagaz”.

“I want to assure consumers that the gas transmission and gas distribution companies of the Moldovagaz group of companies are ready to work in an emergency mode, in strict accordance with national legislation and decisions of the central authorities of the Republic of Moldova,” Ceban added.

Moldova is experiencing an energy crisis due to rising energy prices. The authorities intend to reduce gas consumption in winter by at least 15%, and have also developed and submitted for discussion a plan that includes turning off street lighting, lowering the central heating temperature, transferring schoolchildren and students to distance learning. Since August, Moldovagaz has been cutting off consumers who have not paid on time for services for the supply of natural gas.

In October last year, the Moldovan authorities agreed with Gazprom to extend the contract for the supply of gas to the republic, subject to an audit of the Moldovagaz debt in 2022. “Gazprom” said that, taking into account the situation in Moldova, it was decided to sign the contract practically on the terms of the Moldovan side, but subject to timely 100% payment of current payments.