CHISINAU, September 5 (Itar-Tass) —— Moldova’s gas distribution company Moldova-gas has required to increase domestic tariffs for gas by 21 percent, as prices for Russia’s gas for the republic will go up to 400 U.S. dollars per 1,000 cubic metres in 2011, Director of the National Agency for Energy Regulation (NARE) Viktor Parlikov told reporters on Monday.
In his words, the agency will put forth its decision in response to the requirement of the supplier within two weeks.
Previously, Moldova’s domestic tariffs for gas were increased in May 2010, he said. Back then, the tariffs for the country’s population went up by 15 percent from 3.5 Moldovan lei (0.3 U.S. dollars) to 4.0 lei (0.35 U.S. dollars) per a cubic metre.
Now, if Moldova-gas’s demand is satisfied, the cost of gas for the population will go up to 5.5 lei (4.8 U.S. dollars) per a cubic metre, the agency’s official said.
The Moldova-gas company was established in 1999. Among its major shareholders are Russia’s gas giant Gazprom (which holds a 50-percent stake in the company), as well as Moldova (35.3 percent), the Dniester Republic (13.44 percent) and other legal and individual entities (1.23 percent), the agency’s official said.
In 2006, Gazprom and Moldova-gas achieved an agreement on a step-by-step increase of gas prices for Moldova up to Europe’s average level by 2011.