Romania offers Moldova financial aid to ease gas crisis

Bucharest, July 12 - Neftegaz.RU. Romania’s government approved a 100-million-Euros financial support package for Moldova to help it deal with a looming energy crisis, BalkanInsight has reported.

Romania’s financial assistance comes at a difficult time for its neighbour, after Russian energy giant Gazprom warned it would stop supplying gas to Moldova if its Moldovagaz subsidiary does not pay outstanding debts within 2 days.

As Moldovagaz does not have the cash flow to cover this, Moldova’s government will stage a financial intervention again to prevent a stop in gas deliveries.

Moldova’s Prime Minister, Natalia Gavrilita, said she would ask parliament to introduce a state of emergency in the energy sector in order to unlock money fast from the state budget to cover Moldovagaz’s debts to Gazprom.

Gazprom owns 64 % of Moldovagaz, making it a subsidiary of the Russian giant.
Gavrilita on Wednesday said Gazprom had sent a letter to Moldovagaz, warning it will stop the supply of gas if it does not pay for the gas consumption for the 1^st half of this month in full by January 20.

At the time of sending the letter, the amount demanded by Gazprom was about $63 million, of which Moldovagaz can cover only $38 million, so the Moldovan state will cover the other $25 million.

The PM stressed that Gazprom refused to postpone the repayments owed by its subsidiary in Moldova:
I would remind you that in previous years, Gazprom allowed Moldovagaz to accumulate negative deviations [debts] during winter that were paid in the following months

She added that the government considered the risk to the country’s energy security real, which is why it has been obliged to intervene.

The price for Moldova of Russian gas rose from December 2021 to January 2022 from $550 to $647 per 1,000 m3.
With the Moldovan state as guarantor, Gazprom and Moldovagaz signed a new gas contract on October 30, 2021, in St Petersburg.