(Bloomberg) -- Moldova called on Western countries for financial support on concern Gazprom PJSC won’t continue natural gas supplies to the nation’s breakaway Transnistria region.
The pro-Russian territory is dependent on flows from the company, which are sent via Ukraine. That leaves it vulnerable once a transit deal between Moscow and Kyiv expires at year’s end. Since Transnistria turns the gas into electricity for the rest of Moldova, a halt would hurt the country as a whole.
“If gas deliveries stop, the Transnistrian region will collapse economically and socially, and energy tariffs for inhabitants of the whole of Moldova will rise,” Energy Minister Victor Parlicov said Wednesday. “We call on the support of our Western partners, otherwise they will not be able to get through this crisis.”
Gazprom has said it’s in talks with Moldova to find a solution. The outcome may provide clues on future flows to other buyers in Europe, since the transit deal also governs supplies to Austria, Slovakia and others. Its impending expiry has stoked market jitters, with European futures trading near the highest in a year.
Parlicov said Gazprom has the option to send gas to Transnistria via an alternative route through Turkey, but that’s conditional on Moldova settling historical debts that are alleged to exceed $700 million. Of that amount, the country recognizes less than $8 million.
Tensions with Moscow are aggravated by Moldova’s gradual shift to align itself more closely with the European Union. The former Soviet republic opened EU accession talks in June and aims to join the bloc by the end of the decade. Pro-EU President Maia Sandu was recently re-elected for a second term.
--With assistance from Olga Tanas.
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