CHISINAU (Reuters) – Russia’s state-owned gas giant Gazprom cut natural gas supplies to Moldova by around 30 percent on Saturday, Moldovagaz chief Vadim Ceban said.
On Friday, Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spinu said that Chisinau had been warned by Gazprom of an upcoming drop in deliveries.
He said on Saturday that this decrease was due to technical problems and that his country was going to ask Gazprom to increase its deliveries.
“The reason for the reduction in gas supply (…) was explained too late by Gazprom,” he told a press conference, adding that technical problems could not be considered. as “an objective reason”.
Moldova, said the Deputy Prime Minister, can count on about 53.5 million cubic meters of gas stored underground in Ukraine and Romania and plans to reduce its natural gas needs by using fuel oil to supply certain units of electricity production.
Vadim Ceban specified that Moldovagaz had paid 23.9 million dollars (24.4 million euros) to Gazprom on Friday to cover the balance of the bill for gas deliveries in September.
(Report Alexander Tanas, French version Marc Angrand)
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