Deliveries of “blue fuel” to the republic are under threat again
The gas contract between Russia and Moldova may be terminated. Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic Andrei Spinu warned that Gazprom might not agree with the terms of the audit of the former debts of the republic for Russian “blue fuel”, which, taking into account penalties, exceed $700 million. It seems that Chisinau is deliberately delaying the payment of obligations in order to bankrupt ” Moldovagaz” and legally refuse to pay off its debt to the monopoly.
According to Spinu, Chisinau is unable to fulfill the conditions set by Gazprom regarding the financial assessment of the republic’s debts to the Russian monopoly. “Unfortunately, we could not take them into account, because we want to conduct an in-depth audit, not an accounting analysis. There is a risk that because of this, the current contract may be terminated,” the Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister said.
Moscow and Chisinau agreed to audit the Republic’s gas obligations in October last year, when a new five-year contract was signed for the export of Russian “blue fuel” to Moldova. This condition became a guarantor of the continued supply of raw materials to consumers in the neighboring state. According to Gazprom, over the past years, Moldovagaz has accumulated a debt of $433 million, and taking into account the delay in payments, the total amount of debt reaches $709 million.
To assess the fairness of such an amount, Chisinau demanded the involvement of an independent international company. Gazprom agreed and fuel supplies were continued. At the end of January, the Public Services Agency of Moldova placed an application to find the company needed for the audit. The Russian monopoly did not like such haste. Gazprom said that the unilateral approach of the Moldovan side to the verification of debts contradicts the agreements reached last October, since Chisinau selects the auditor alone, so the results of the verification may turn out to be biased.
It is worth noting that in the months that have passed since the conclusion of the new agreement, although Moldova paid for the volumes of Russian energy resources, the cash tranches were received at the very last moment. In January, the transfer arrived within hours of the deadline. In such circumstances, Gazprom was forced to constantly warn Chisinau about disconnecting from its pipe in case of delay in payment. At present, the situation is repeating itself – time is running out again and Moldova has only a few days left to pay off the February deliveries.
There is another curious nuance. The fact is that the Russian monopoly owns a controlling stake in Moldovagaz, while the Moldovan government owns a little more than 35% (everything else belongs to Transnistria). According to Igor Yushkov, an expert at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, the situation looks as if Chisinau, including through complaints about the audit, is deliberately delaying the payment of energy resources supplied in previous years in order to achieve bankruptcy of its gas company and due to this withdraw Russia from among its shareholders. On the one hand, Gazprom will remain a supplier of “blue fuel” to the republic, on the other hand, it will no longer own a stake in Moldovagaz. In turn, the recognition of the gas distribution company as insolvent will allow Chisinau to write off the amount of debt to our country and officially refuse to pay off obligations.
According to the director of the Energy Development Fund, Sergei Pikin, now the ball is on the Russian side. Deliveries to Moldova account for only 1.5% of Gazprom’s export portfolio, so abandoning this business will not cause significant damage to the monopoly’s income.