Moldova buys gas from Poland after the failure of negotiations with Russia threw the country into energy crisis
The Moldovan government has announced an agreement with the Polish state-owned company PGNiG on the purchase of one million cubic meters of gas.
The Republic of Moldova has concluded a contract with Poland for the supply of natural gas, this being the first time that the former Soviet country uses a supplier other than Russia amid the continuing conflict with the Russian giant Gazprom, reports AFP. Moldova is 100% dependent on Russian gas.
The decision comes after prom increased prices for Moldova, prompting the country’s pro-European government to declare a state of emergency, allowing it to seek alternative sources.
The Moldovan government has announced an agreement with the Polish state-owned company PGNiG on the purchase of one million cubic meters of gas.
“This is the first purchase of gas from alternative sources in the history of Moldova,” reads a statement from the Moldovan government.
With the current contract expiring at the end of this month, Moldovan Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Andrei Spinu said that negotiations with Russia have not reached any results, but that they will be resumed today, not Balkan Insight.
According to him, Moldova wants a fair price for gas, based on a formula similar to those offered to other states with which Gazprom has a long-term contract.
Last week, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kuprianov warned that the giant expects Moldova to pay off a $ 709 million debt and then begin negotiations for a new contract, otherwise Russia will suspend gas supplies until . December 1st.
Gazprom took another such step in January 2006, after price negotiations between the two sides failed.
Spinu announced that the privileged debt negotiations, accumulated since 1994, will continue, but that his position is that a privileged independent audit of them is necessary.
Moldova declared a state of emergency at the end of last week, in an attempt to find alternative sources after Gazprom reduced its deliveries amid the global energy crisis, according to the Financial Times.
Prime Minister Natalia GavriliĊ£a said pressure on the local gas network had dropped to critical levels. The country of 2.6 million people is seeking emergency support from the EU after Gazprom reduced its deliveries to it after the expiration of a long-term contract and for Moldova to pay more than double the previous price to maintain deliveries.
Some analysts suggest Gazprom is taking advantage of the energy crisis to put pressure on Moldova after pro-EU President Maia Sandu and her Action and Solidarity party won the country’s recent presidential and parliamentary elections.
Following crisis talks between Brussels and Chisinau over the past two weeks, the EU has decided to do “everything possible” to help Moldova overcome the energy crisis.