Authorities on Debt to Gazprom: Borosan - $2.3m left, Ceban - Not a Dollar Paid

Officials give contradictory information about the payment of debts to Gazprom. State Secretary within the Energy Ministry Constantin Borosan confirmed to IPN news agency that Moldovagaz’s debt of $8.6m to Gazprom has been almost fully repaid. The last instalment of $2.3m remains to be paid this year. “The international audit clearly showed how much debt we have. This is just the part of $8.6 million, of which there is still the last part to be paid, we are talking about $2 million 300 thousand dollars. This amount will be paid in full this year. It is paid at the expense of tariff deviations,” the state secretary of the Energy Ministry said. On the other hand, responding to an IPN enquiry, Moldovagaz acting head Vadim Ceban denied the words of the state secretary of the Energy Ministry. “Not a single dollar has been paid. Moreover, at the moment, the company’s draft budget for 2025 does not plan to repay the debt to Gazprom. As for the dsicharge, the debt has not been relieved, now according to the accounting data the debt is $709m,” Vadim Ceban said. Asked to comment on the statements made by the head of Moldovagaz, Constantin Borosan said he would give a reaction later. At the end of March 2022, Moldovagaz owed $709 million to Russia’s Gazprom. However, according to an international audit hired by the Moldovan authorities, most of this debt was either unenforceable or could not be documented. The same audit confirmed the possibility that Moldovagaz could initiate a number of lawsuits against Gazprom with financial claims. On the other hand, Gazprom does not recognize the audit findings.