Italian energy giant Eni announced on Tuesday its decision to open an account in euros and another in rubles with Gazprombank in order to honor its payments for the supply of Russian gas due “in the coming days”, thus complying with the demands of Moscow.
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“The payment obligation can be fulfilled by the transfer of euros” and the new procedure “should not be incompatible with the existing sanctions” against Moscow imposed by the European Commission, assures Eni in a press release.
The Italian group, 30.3% controlled by the State, thus seems to be taking the opposite view of the recommendations of the European Commission, according to which the opening of an account in rubles would constitute a violation of sanctions and would lead to infringement procedures. from Brussels.
“Anything that goes beyond the guidelines” given by the Commission to member states “would contravene the sanctions”, its spokesman Eric Mamer had declared a few hours before Eni’s announcement.
These indications consist of “opening an account in the currencies provided for in the contract, making a payment in this currency and making a declaration by saying that this closes the payment for the delivery of gas concerned”, he specified.
According to Eni, the Russian authorities have confirmed that “invoicing and payment will continue to take place in euros” – the currency agreed by the contracts -, and “an operator of the Moscow Stock Exchange will carry out the conversion into rubles within 48 hours without the intervention of the Central Bank of Russia”.
A Kremlin decree introduced a new payment procedure in two phases, with first a deposit into a Gazprombank account in euros or dollars, then the conversion into rubles on a second account opened with the same establishment.
Initially, this conversion mechanism involved a transaction with the Russian Central Bank, which the EU sanctions regime prohibits.
While Brussels has repeatedly ruled that such a ruble conversion mechanism represents a circumvention of EU sanctions, several member states anxious to maintain their supplies have asked the European Commission for clarification.