European Union agrees to cut Russian oil imports by more than two-thirds

Gazprom suspends gas deliveries to one of the main suppliers in the Netherlands

The Russian gas company Gazprom will suspend deliveries to Dutch supplier GasTerra from Tuesday because it refused to pay in rubles, the Dutch firm announced on Monday. “Gazprom has announced that it will interrupt the supply from May 31, 2022”GasTerra said in a statement, while stressing that it had “anticipated this, by buying elsewhere”.

After the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine by Moscow, on February 24, and the imposition of Western sanctions, the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, had demanded, on March 31, to the buyers of Russian gas from countries “unfriendly” to pay in rubles from accounts in Russia under penalty of being deprived of supply.

“GasTerra has repeatedly urged Gazprom to adhere to the contractually agreed payment structure and delivery obligations, unfortunately to no avail”explained the company. “GasTerra is not complying with these payment requirements”she added, pointing out that these present “a risk of violation of the sanctions drawn up by the EU”but also “financial and operational risks”.

The Russian energy giant’s decision means that two billion cubic meters of gas will not be supplied to the Netherlands by October, GasTerra said, adding that it “anticipated this by buying gas elsewhere”.

The Dutch state directly owns a 10% stake in GasTerra and an additional 40% through the state-owned gas company EBN. The rest is owned by energy giants Shell and Esso. The Netherlands currently uses about 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas, of which about six billion cubic meters came from Russia, according to the government.

The Dutch government has stated that it “understood” GasTerra’s decision not to comply with the request “unilateral” of Gazprom. “This decision has no consequences for the physical gas supply of Dutch households”Dutch Climate and Energy Minister Rob Jetten said on Twitter.

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