MOSCOW — Moldova’s debt to Russian gas giant Gazprom stood at $662.8 million by July 1, 2005, Gennady Abashkin, chairman of the board of directors of Russian-Moldovan joint venture Moldova-Gaz, said at a press conference in the Moldovan capital Chisinau on Monday.

Moldova-Gaz owed another $631 million in interest and fines for past deliveries by January 1. Current supplies are being paid for in full.
Moldova’s debt to Gazprom may rise further as the Russian gas giant raises its gas prices for Moldova starting from January 1, 2006, Alexander Ryazanov, head of Moldova-Gaz’s supervisory board, said on Friday.

He said the price increase was necessitated by higher production and transportation costs, growing tax pressure and the rising price of gas imports from Central Asian countries Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Increasing gas prices were also dictated by the market, with gas priced much higher in neighboring countries. He stressed that the prices should be raised gradually. Gazprom would discuss the gas price update with the Moldovan government, Ryazanov noted.

Gazprom’s subsidiary Gazexport raised the price of its natural gas supplies to Moldova from $71 to $75 per 1,000 cubic meters from the third quarter of this year. The price of Gazexport’s gas exports to Moldova is subject to quarterly revisions.

In the first quarter of this year, Gazprom was selling natural gas to Moldova at $68 per 1,000 cubic meters, at $71 in the second quarter. Last year, Moldova-Gaz was buying gas from Gazexport at between $61.5 and $65 per 1,000 cubic meters. At the same time, Moldova pays $80 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas for Gazprom’s deliveries.