The contract with Gazprom was signed for a five-year period. Amounts of gas were reserved for the period between November 2021 – October 2022 and more quantities will be reserved two months before October 2022. Under the new contract, the purchase price of gas for November will be about US$450 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas, while for December – under US$400, Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu, Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development, told a news conference, being quoted by IPN.

As to the tariffs for end users, he said Moldovagaz does calculations and will present them to the National Agency for Energy Regulation. No matter how much the tariffs are raised, the authorities will come with support for the citizens.

The official said that the governments of Moldova and the Russian Federation by the end of 2022 will sign an energy agreement. This will envision the keeping of the status of Moldovagaz SA, including the non-imposition of penalties and avoidance forced reorganizations until the debt owed to Gazprom for the gas supplied to the consumers on the right side of the Nistru is settled. The protocol signed recently in St. Petersburg does not make reference to the exact size of the debt. This will be specified as a result of an independent audit that will be conducted by a company selected at a contest.

Until May 1, 2022, Moldovagaz and Gazprom will sign an agreement for clearing the debt for the gas supplied to the right side of the Nistru during a period of five years. As regards the Third Energy Package, Moldova will continue to implement this. “We agreed that in the course of 2022, when we need to solve a problem related to debts, we should refrain from particular actions that can endanger the solving of this problem. We speak about 2022, when the Moldovan-Russian Joint Commission is to convene in November. We must conduct an audit into the debt and have a debt repayment agreement between Moldovagaz and Gazprom, not the Government, signed and by the end of the year we should also have an intergovernmental agreement that will clearly stipulate how the debt will be settled and other aspects as we have not only problems related to gas, but also other energy sector issues,” stated Andrei Spînu.

Answering journalists’ questions, the official said the total sum paid for the gas purchased from alternative sources came to almost US$17 million.

He also said that in the immediate period, the Commission on Emergencies will come together to decide whether to maintain the state of emergency in the energy sector until November 20 or to lift it earlier.