Moldovagaz is working with the government on a mechanism to pay off the current debt to Gazprom and is asking for a loan of about $74 million to pay for gas under the contract.
Vadim Ceban, Chairman of the Board of Moldovagaz announced this, noting that the company's management continues to work on resolving the issue of paying for the current gas supplies for October and November 2021 within 48 hours in order to avoid a possible interruption of gas supplies. Vadim Ceban denied claims that Moldova is facing another gas crisis. “The matter doesn’t concern a gas crisis. We have signed an agreement with Gazprom, which spells out the need to make current payments in full. The same provision was in the previous contract. Now, the matter concerns the cash gap that has formed in our country. It arose due to the fact that in October the old tariff for consumers was in effect, based on a price of $150 per 1,000 cubic meters. But we bought gas at a price of $800 per 1,000 cubic meters. On November 1, the tariff increased, but this was only done on November 10. Therefore, there were difficulties with payment,” said Vadim Ceban. According to him, in September the company covered the debt on its own, and is now working with the government to pay for October and mid-November. The resulting cash gap is 1.3 billion lei. “We will discuss with the government how to pay off this debt. We can take out a bank loan, but this is a long procedure. The government has this money, and we are looking for legal procedures to borrow this money from the government and pay off the resulting debt. Wecan take the loan either directly or through the state-owned company Energocom. A solution will be found, we will not reach the stoppage of gas supply,” assured Vadim Ceban. He said that the issue of gas supplies and payments for it will be discussed with the government on Tuesday. // 23.11.2021 - InfoMarket
