The Republic of Moldova resumed gas purchases from the Russian group Gazprom in March, after a break of about three months, said the director of the public natural gas distribution company Moldovagaz, Vadim Ceban, Reuters informs.

“In March of this year, in accordance with the current contract, Gazprom supplied the Republic of Moldova with a total volume of 176.7 million cubic meters of natural gas, or 5.7 million cubic meters per day,” wrote Vadim Ceban on the application of Telegram messaging.

Starting from December of last year, the Russian group Gazprom supplied natural gas only to the breakaway region of Transnistria, according to Agerpres.

Gas deliveries frequently caused tensions between the Republic of Moldova and Russia until the end of last year, as until now Chisinau depended almost exclusively on Gazprom for gas imports.

Vadim Ceban stated that the decision to resume gas purchases, which will be used for electricity production, was made because the price requested by Gazprom is “almost identical” to the one offered last month by the local supplier Energocom.

In October 2021, Moldovagaz and Gazprom extended the natural gas supply agreement by five years. According to the provisions of the new contract, Gazprom requires payment for the delivered natural gas to be made in advance by the 20th of each month.