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CHISINAU, July 16The Moldovan side fulfilled the agreement with Gazprom on the audit of Moldovagaz's debt, but the results will be made public after a thorough analysis, Moldovan Energy Minister Victor Parlikov said on Sunday in an interview with Ziarul de Garda.
“The results of the audit, as part of an agreement with Gazprom, are already there, but they will be publicly presented after we carefully analyze them. We are talking about the structure of these debts. Based on the findings of this audit, we will make a decision on how to further resolve the situation with Gazprom. There is also money that was unreasonably used by the company (Moldovagaz). The results of the audit, let's say, are interesting,» Parlikov said.
He specified that Chisinau had partially paid the foreign company for inspection services, but did not provide details.
In October 2021, the Moldovan authorities agreed with Gazprom to extend the contract for the supply of gas to the republic, subject to an audit of the Moldovagaz debt in 2022. «Gazprom» reported that it reserves the right to completely stop gas supplies to Moldova due to the violation by «Moldovagaz» of the obligation to pay and the deadlines for concluding an agreement on the settlement of historical debt. Only in August last year, the Moldovan government entered into an audit agreement with the Norwegian company Wikborg Rein Advokatfirma and the British Forensic Risk Alliance & Co. It was expected that the first results of the audit would become known in January-February, but the deadline for the audit was extended until April. The energy minister said that in June the Moldovan authorities will receive the results of the financial and legal audit of the debt.
There is a state of emergency in Moldova, declared, among other things, due to the energy crisis amid problems with a shortage of gas and a sharp rise in the price of energy resources. Since December last year, Moldovagaz has been receiving gas from two sources — from the state-owned Energocom and the Russian Gazprom. Russian gas is sent to Transnistria, while the rest of Moldova uses gas from accumulated reserves (more than 200 million cubic meters). Tariffs for gas in Moldova increased almost seven times in 2022, and for electricity almost four times.