Andrian Candu: We will make sure that end-users feel reduction in gas price

Moldova in 2015 will import Russian gas at the price of US$331.8 per 1,000 cubic meters. “The energy security towards which we tend will be ensured,” Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Andrian Candu said after the signing in Chisinau of agreements to extend the contract for the supply of Russian gas to Moldova and the contract for the transportation of Russian gas to end-users in the Balkans through Moldova until December 31, 2015, IPN reports.



In the last two quarters, Moldovagaz paid by US$378 per 1,000 meters of cubic gas purchased from Gazprom. “We will make sure that this price reduction is taken into consideration by the National Agency for Energy Regulation when the prices for end-users are set so that the negotiated reduction is felt by the population,” Andrian Candu said in a press briefing.



“Moldova can be sure that it will not remain without gas. We, for our part, can be sure that our natural gas will reach the end-users in the Balkans,” said the vice president of the administration board of Gazprom Aleksandr Medvedev.



The contract for the supply of Russian gas to Moldova was signed in December 2006 and expired on December 31, 2011. Since then, the contract was successively extended over the next years. The contract of 2006 provided that the import price will gradually rise. Consequently, the purchase price increased from the average price of US$76.1 per 1,000 cubic meters in 2005 to about US$380 per 1,000 cubic meters in 2013.



Earlier, the Russian side said a new contract will be signed when Moldova renounces the documents signed within the European Energy Treaty, especially the Energy Package III and clears the debts for gas of over US$4 billion, including the debt of Transnistria.