The head of the Administration Board of Moldovagaz Vadim Ceban denies the idea that Moldova and Russia during the talks on the extension of the gas supply contract agreed political conditions. He said the talks were strictly commercial in character and the contract had to be prolonged for a five-year period as Moldova needs to clear its historical debts, IPN reports.

The chief of Moldovagaz said the contract signed with Gazprom is advantageous and is based on the old gas price calculation formula.

“The negotiations were purely commercial. There are debts that accumulated since 1994 and haven’t been cleared yet. We spoke about the evolution of prices, markets. We held talks in a rather volatile period when the price fluctuated between US$1,900 and US$1,300 and this aspect influenced the negotiations. The contract signed back in 2006 was extended.  But next year, if we have more time available, we can negotiate a new contract,” Vadim Ceban state din the program “The Fourth Estate” on N4 TV channel.

He denied the fact that the prolongation of the contract with Gazprom for a five-year period will lead to a delay in the implementation of the Third Energy Package. The protocol signed with Gazprom only bans the reorganization of Moldovagaz until the debts are fully settled.

“Such an agreement was reached because we need to clear the debts for which we will negotiate a repayment schedule with Gazprom, also for a five-year period. The contract has nothing to do with the Third Energy Package as the Republic of Moldova already implements this package and a gas transmission system operator was already authorized by NAER. This is Vestmoldtransgaz, which was certified according to the Third Energy Package. It is not right that we do not implement the Third Package,” said Vadim Ceban.

He avoided saying how much the tariffs for end users will rise, noting calculations are now being done and the National Agency for Energy Regulation is to take a final decision. Currently, the tariff for a cubic meter of gas is 4.20 lei.