Moldovagaz asks to postpone until Dec payments to Gazprom

"Moldovagaz has asked Gazprom to postpone until the end of the fourth quarter the due date for advance payments for August–September of the current year,” Ceban said in a post on Telegram.

In his words, delayed payments by Moldovagaz clients leads to an increase in debt to Gazprom.

"Under these circumstances, Moldovagaz is forced to once again ask for government support in the form of direct state assistance, or to request payment of the historical debts by Termoelectrica ​​to cover the August-September cash gap created after the company will fully pay the cost of imported natural gas," Ceban added.

On Wednesday, Moldovagaz said that it had ordered the suspension of gas deliveries to more than 2,000 non-household gas users over 75.53 million lei ($3.94 million/3.87 million euro) unpaid debts which threatens the company's ability to pay Gazprom for gas imports.

On August 10, Moldovagaz cut natural gas supply to 708 household customers whose unpaid bills totaled 4.1 million lei.

At the end of July, Moldovagaz asked household clients to pay their bills, saying that over 4,036 households or 36.6% of total consumers owe over 46.1 million lei for natural gas consumption.

As of July 31, the National Commission for Exceptional Situations has voted to allow disconnection from the system of household consumers who have outstanding debt to Moldovagaz.

On August 4, Moldovagaz said is seeking a postponement of payment for August gas deliveries from Gazprom after the local energy market regulator ANRE approved gas prices for end users that are insufficient to cover the cost of deliveries. While ANRE calculates the tariff based on a price of $899 (883 euro) per 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas, the price for August delivery set by Gazprom is $1,458, the company said at the time.

Russia's Gazprom owns 50% of Moldovagaz, the Moldovan government owns 35.33% and 13.44% is held by the government of Transnistria, the pro-Russian separatist republic within Moldova.

(1 euro=19.485 lei)