Page 8 - EurOil Week 06 2022

EurOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT EurOil

Russian-Hungarian gas unit

Panrusgas wound up

HUNGARY THE general meeting of Panrusgaz, the exclu- Panrusgas was among the top 10 companies
sive importer of Russian gas to Hungary, decided based on turnover.
The company has been in December to wind up the company without Russian billionaire Megdet Rahimkulov was
the beneficiary of the a legal successor as of January 1, according to a head of the company for a long period. He played
Hungarian-Ruussin report by independent media. a key part in drawing up the 1996 gas trad-
long-term gas contracts The company has been the beneficiary of ing agreement between Hungary and Russia.
in the past. the Hungarian-Russian long-term gas con- Rahimkulov was also head of AEB Bank, owned
tracts in the past. It ceased operation as of by Gazprom at that time.
October 1, when Hungary’s new 15-year gas According to the latest ownership struc-
contract with Russian state gas giant Gazprom ture, MVM holds 50% of the stakes in the com-
came into force. pany, while Gazprom holds the remaining 50%
Panrusgaz was founded in 1994 by Hungar- through Gazprom Export and another subsidi-
ian oil giant MOL and Gazprom as an intermedi- ary, Centrex.
ary between the two companies for the delivery The company realised HUF845mn (€2.4mn)
of Russian gas to Hungary. It set up similar inter- in profit on more than HUF300bn revenue in
mediaries in other Central European coun- 2021. Gas trader MVM CEEnergy, formerly
tries. In 2005 MOL sold its stake to Germany’s known as Magyar Foldgazkereskedo before a
E.On, which also exited 10 years later, selling its July rebranding, is now responsible for the gas
stakes to state utility giant MVM. At that time, deliveries from Russia. ™

Gazprom objects to Moldova hiring

consultant for debt audit

MOLDOVA GAZPROM has criticised the government of debt to Gazprom for gas supplied to consumers
Moldova for preparing to hire a consultant for on the right bank of the Dniester, provided for
Gazprom does not the audit of its historic debt without consulting by the protocol of negotiations on the settlement
agree to Moldova’s with its unit Moldovagaz. of problematic issues in the gas industry dated
unilateral approach. “The unilateral approach of the Moldovan October 29, 2021.
side to the audit of the debt of Moldovagaz [to Instead, the representatives of the Govern-
Gazprom] runs counter to the agreements ment of Moldova reported that the conditions
reached in October 2021,” Gazprom warns in a for engaging the auditor have already been deter-
statement by which it prepares the ground for mined by the Moldovan side, Gazprom warns.
rejecting the findings of a consultant hired under As follows from the published documenta-
these circumstances. tion, the Government of Moldova did not take
The three sides, Moldova, Gazprom and into account the proposals of Gazprom, previ-
Moldovagaz (controlled by Gazprom) agreed in ously sent to the Moldovan side.
October to audit the historic debt owed by Mol- The unilateral approach of the Moldovan side
dovagaz to the Russian company that the latter to the determination of the terms of the tender
estimates at some $900mn out of which the prin- for the purchase of the auditor’s services does not
cipal would be $400mn. allow one to expect transparency and objectivity
The meeting of the supervisory board of of the audit of debts of Moldovagaz for the gas
Moldovagaz scheduled for February 2 did not supplied to the consumers of Moldova, Gazprom
take place due to the absence of representa- states.
tives of the Government of Moldova, Gazprom This may lead to the fact that the results of
explains. The Russian company claims that it the audit will not be approved by the supervisory
was assumed that the supervisory board should board of Moldovagaz, the Russian company con-
agree on approaches to auditing the company’s cludes. ™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 06 10•February•2022