The Russian company “Gazprom” will increase the price of gas for the Republic of Moldova by almost 60%. Thus, from January for the neighboring country, Russian gas will cost approximately $1,230 per thousand cubic meters, compared to $742 in December and $815 in November.

This was reported by the director of “Moldovagaz” Vadym Cheban, who later noted that all final calculations will be clarified around January 10.

The topic caused a wave of questions among experts and society in the Republic of Moldova. From December 2022, the entire volume of gas supplied by Gazprom to the Republic of Moldova will go to the Transnistrian separatist region, while the right bank of the Dniester, controlled by the country’s constitutional authorities, will be supplied with natural gas from reserves stored in Romania and Ukraine. .

The average purchase price in this case is $1,000 per thousand cubic meters. This is happening in conditions where Gazprom has reduced deliveries to Moldova by 50% of the volumes provided for in the contract.

In the conditions of the frozen conflict on the left bank of the Dniester, Tiraspol will not pay for the volumes of gas supplied by the Russian company, as has been the case for more than 30 years.

Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development of the Republic of Moldova Andrii Spinu, who is responsible for the energy sector of the neighboring country, told HotNews.ro that all calculations are made by Moldovagaz, but this price will correspond to the calculation formula established in the contract .

Later, on Wednesday, “Moldovagaz” issued clarifications, for example, when determining the contractual price for natural gas, the concept of “base price” is used, which is “calculated annually on the basis of actual data on the sale of gas by Gazprom to non-member countries EU. countries – CIS for the period April-December of the previous year”. The price is calculated for the first month of supply of the current year.

“Until now, Gazprom has not officially sent JSC Moldovagaz the initial data for determining the price of the contract for January 2023,” – said in the press release of “Moldovagaz”.

Expert: “For me, this is something incredible”

The former vice-president of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, Alexander Slusar, who was the first to point out the lack of information about the gas purchase price for 2023, claims that the amount of $1,230 is incomprehensible.

“I don’t understand the figure that Vadym Cheban (Director of the Moldovagaz company) announced. This is too high compared to the evolution of share prices. In November, we had a price from Gazprom of $815 per thousand cubic meters. In December, this amount was $785.

I do not understand what has changed in a month and why this price has increased so suddenly, exactly by 57%. According to the contract with Gazprom, for the first and fourth quarters, 30% of the prices are tied to the price of gas at the Dutch hub on the last day of the previous delivery month. Another 70% of the winter price consists of Platz prices of a mixture of petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, calculated for nine months.

In November 2022, the average FTT exchange price of the Netherlands was $1,262 per thousand cubic meters, for December we don’t have an exact figure yet, but seeing the evolution of exchange prices, I don’t think this average price is higher than $1,200.

We do some simple calculations: 30% of $1,200 is $360. It turns out that of the $1,200 voiced by Vadym Cheban, $360 is the weight of the spot price, and exactly $870 is the oil basket. For me, this is something incredible. It seems that this price is some kind of result of the agreement between “Moldovagaz” and “Gazprom”, and its purpose is to justify the scheme with the transfer of the entire volume of gas for Transnistria,” Oleksandr Slyusar claims.

• Read also: Why does the Tiraspol deputy say that Romania’s participation in the resolution of the Transnistrian conflict is unacceptable: “A state that was on Hitler’s side and recognized colossal crimes in the region”

An energy expert from the Republic of Moldova, Sergiu Ungurianu, believes that the explanations should be clearer about the amount in circulation, but he does not believe that it is about certain “schemes” or unclear understanding.

“This price is formed according to the formula that was entered into the contract between “Moldovagaz” and “Gazprom”. “Moldovagas” explained that on January 10 there will be a kind of recalculation, or a kind of revision of this gas purchase formula for Moldova.

It is higher because now we see that the prices in the market have decreased, so they are in the region of 800-850 dollars per thousand cubic meters. Here we have to see specifically where and through which intermediaries we purchase this gas.

It is important that almost all the gas that we buy now from Gazprom goes to the Transnistrian side, including for our own needs, plus consumption for the Kuchurgan HPP, which produces electricity, and for the right bank of the Dniester.

It is difficult to say that there are agreements here, apart from economic ones, and I think, rather, no, there were no separate agreements at the moment.

All the agreements that took place were from October to November 2021, when the Moldovan delegation was at Gazprom and this contract for the supply of gas to the Republic of Moldova was signed. The last agreement was only that the gas purchased by the Republic of Moldova from Gazprom should be sent to the Transnistrian side,” says Sergiu Ungurianu.

Stas Madan, an economic expert from the Republic of Moldova, noted that in January, a “very interesting situation” developed on the natural gas market: Gazprom’s gas is more expensive than gas purchased by Energocom.

“As the director of Moldovagaz reported, for January the average purchase price under the contract with Gazprom is $1,230 per thousand cubic meters, and according to the agreements, from the beginning of December, the entire volume of gas coming from Gazprom will go to the left bank of the Dniester (including from this gas, the right bank receives cheaper electricity from Kuchurgan).

At the same time, the right bank is supplied with gas through market purchases carried out by the state-owned company “Energocom”. During this period, exchange prices for natural gas reached 800-850 dollars per thousand cubic meters, that is, much cheaper than the gas supplied by Gazprom, even if the costs of transportation and storage are added. I hope that during this period “Energocom” will “buy” more on the market,” says Stas Madan.

The contract between “Gazprom” and “Moldovagaz” was extended for five years in autumn 2021.

A quarter of the average salary of a Moldovan goes to heating the house

Currently, the standard rate per cubic meter for consumers in the Republic of Moldova is 29.27 Moldovan lei, i.e. the equivalent of 1.45 euros.

At the same time, the government of the Republic of Moldova established five categories of so-called “energy vulnerability”. Only citizens of the first four categories receive compensation for heating, depending on income, wealth, marital status and other criteria, which are automatically calculated on the compensatii.gov.md website.

So, those with very high vulnerability pay 12 Moldovan lei per cubic meter, those with high vulnerability – 14 lei, with medium vulnerability – 17 lei, and for low vulnerability – 24 lei.

For example, a family living in a two-room apartment in Chisinau consumes about 150 cubic meters of gas per month in winter. With an average degree of vulnerability, this family pays 2,550 Moldovan lei (€126) for gas. The average wage per economy in the Republic of Moldova is 11,700 Moldovan lei (€576).

Almost a quarter of the salary goes to heating.

• Read also: Gas and electricity prices against the average salary. Figures that show how serious the energy crisis is in the Republic of Moldova