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Russian gas passes to Poland through the Yamal pipelines
Russian energy company “Gazprom” has informed Poland and Bulgaria that it will stop sending gas to the two countries from Wednesday.
Polish state oil and gas company PGNiG said it had been told that all gas shipments to Poland would be suspended from 8 a.m. local time on Wednesday (06:00 GMT).
The Bulgarian Energy Ministry also said it had been told that deliveries would be suspended from Wednesday.
This comes following Russia said that “unfriendly” countries should start paying for gas in rubles or cut off supplies.
Countries refused to pay in this way.
Poland’s state energy company relies on Gazprom for most of its gas imports. In the first quarter of this year, 53 percent of its imports came from the Russian company.
The Polish company described the suspension of shipments as a violation of the supply contract, and said it would take steps to restore the flow of gas.
Bulgaria, which relies on Gazprom for more than 90 percent of its gas supplies, said it had taken steps to find alternative sources.
The country’s Energy Ministry said Bulgaria had fulfilled its obligations under the current contract with Gazprom and had made all required payments.
It added that the new payment system proposed by Russia violates the existing contract.
Following the news, Polish Climate Minister Anna Moskva said the country’s energy supply is secure.
She added that there is no need to withdraw gas from the reserves, and that the supply of gas to customers will not be interrupted.
Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydać said that his country was preparing for the possibility that Russia would limit gas exports, by diversifying its supplies.
He told the BBC: “I am sure we will be successful in dealing with this.”
He added that the comment proved that Moscow “is not a reliable partner in any kind of business” and urged other European countries such as Germany to support the ban on Russian energy imports.
Poland had planned to stop importing Russian gas by the end of the year, when its long-term supply contract with Gazprom expires.
The Polish state company said that underground gas reserves are 80 percent full, and that demand is low with the approach of summer.
Poland has alternative sources of supply, including a liquefied gas station in the city of “Schoeniewski”.
A new gas pipeline with Lithuania is scheduled to open on May 1, which will allow Poland to get gas from the LNG terminal in Lithuania.
A new pipeline to transport gas from Norway, known as the “Baltic Pipe”, will be operational in October. It is due to reach full operational capacity by the end of the year and might replace all Russian imports.
Supplies from Russia account for regarding 40 percent of the European Union’s imports of natural gas.
However, many countries pledged to dispense with Russian energy in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
The United States announced a complete ban on imports of oil, gas and coal from Russia.
In the meantime, Britain will phase out its dependence on Russian oil by the end of the year, to be followed by the abandonment of gas as soon as possible.
The European Union is reducing gas imports by two thirds.
Analysis by Adam Easton, BBC correspondent in Warsaw
Cutting off gas supplies does not mean that Poland will not be able to directly meet customer demand.
In recent years, Poland has reduced its dependence on Russian gas and is now buying liquefied gas from Qatar, while pipelines connect the country to the European market. In addition to this, the winter heating season is over, and thus the demand is lower.
But Gazprom provides more than half of Poland’s gas imports. This is a huge gap that must be filled.
Poland is not the only EU country now seeking to stop buying Russian energy.
There is a lot of competition in the hermetic gas supply market. When the heating season begins once more in the fall and demand increases, Poland may face a few tough months to secure adequate supplies.
And if it does, it may have to restrict supplies to large industrial users.
