Cheban: It would be cheaper to take gas directly from Gazprom, but we are not doing this

If Moldova continued to buy natural gas from Gazprom, it would pay a much lower price than the one that exists on the stock market today. This was announced on Exclusiv TV channel by the acting Chairman of the Management Board Moldovagaz JSC Vadim Cheban.

According to him, gas supplies to Moldova are now completely dependent on the Ukrainian side.

"We discussed this when I was at the Gas Forum in St. Petersburg in October. Obviously, we need to discuss, and colleagues said: look at the transit, it goes through the territory of Ukraine, there is no contact with the Ukrainian side because of the war, try to organize this transit through the government," Cheban said.

The representative of the local gas distribution company added that everything related to the discussion of this issue will now be at the level of the European Commission.

"At the moment, Russian gas is cheaper than on the stock market, and much. If we had bought from Gazprom, we would have paid a different price. Today there is this contract for the supply of gas, which reaches Transgaz, and we receive electricity (from Transnistria). That was the decision, that was the format," explained the head of Moldovagaz.

Cheban stressed that when everyone blames Moldovagaz now, they forget one thing: the company could use the daily volume received from Gazprom for consumers on the right bank, but then what would happen to electricity?

"Therefore, all the accusations that I hear are absolutely unfounded. Today we supply 5.7 million cubic meters per day to Transnistria (MoldGRES located there, the Inter RAO enterprise produces about 90% of the electricity for the Republic of Moldova), we could buy back the volumes saved from Transgaz from Gazprom in the summer. We had such an opportunity, but we didn't do it," he concluded.

Recall that Russian gas continues to flow to Europe in transit through Ukraine thanks to the current five-year contract signed at the end of 2019. Not so long ago, Kiev announced that it would not renew this agreement, which expires at the end of 2024. For its part, Gazprom confirmed that it is ready to continue supplying gas to Moldova via the traditional route, even though the Republic of Moldova has not fulfilled the terms of the current contract. Chisinau should now discuss the extension of transit with Kiev, since it is the restrictive actions of the Ukrainian side that will lead to an energy collapse in Moldova. In search of a solution to this problem, the Government of the Republic of Moldova turned to the European Commission for help, and so far the already unaffordable tariffs for energy and heat have increased by almost 50% in the republic.

As EADaily reported, following the "European solidarity", the Moldovan authorities in 2022 refused direct purchases from Gazprom, declaring "energy independence". Chisinau began to purchase blue fuel from European traders. In fact, this is the same Russian gas, but bought through intermediaries. As a result, Moldovan consumers pay the highest price in Europe for it.

The next increase in tariffs is now taking place amid mass protests demanding the resignation of the government and early parliamentary elections.