The Moldovan government and Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom say they have agreed to extend a contract for Russian natural gas supplies for a period of five years, after disagreements between the sides over the price triggered severe shortages in the former Soviet republic, RFE/RL's Moldovan Service reports.
Gazprom said in a short statement on October 29 that talks between a Moldovan delegation and Gazprom ended in St. Petersburg with the sides reaching an agreement to extend the expired contract on "mutually beneficial terms” while Moldova’s Infrastructure Ministry called it an "agreement in principle" under which the previous deal will be extended "using the price formula proposed by the Moldovan side."
Neither Gazprom nor the Moldovan side revealed the price agreed.
“Gas deliveries under the new contract are expected to start from November 1, 2021,” the Ministry said in a post on Facebook.
Moldova declared a state of emergency last week and started buying gas from other countries after its contract with Gazprom, the largest supplier of natural gas to Europe, expired at the end of September, and the two sides failed to agree on details and pricing of a new long-term deal.
Traditional supplier Russia had been threatening to cut off gas supplies to the impoverished country sandwiched between EU member Romania and Ukraine at the end of the year if the existing gas contract was not extended by then.
One of the key issues was Moldova's debt for previous gas supplies that Russia estimated at more than $700 million.
Gazprom and the government in Chisinau agreed to audit the debt and to negotiate a payment schedule, according to the Moldovan side.
The two-day talks in St. Petersburg, where Gazprom has its headquarters, involved Moldova's Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spinu and the Russian firm's CEO Aleksei Miller.
