RussiaGazprom’s announced Finland Gasum said on Friday it would stop circulating natural gas from Saturday morning, after the Finnish state-owned gas wholesaler refused to pay a Russian supplier in rubles.
Gazprom Export has asked European countries to pay for Russian gas supplies in rubles because of sanctions imposed over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Most supply contracts are denominated in euros or dollars, and Moscow cut gas to Bulgaria and Poland last month after they refused to comply with the new payment terms.
Most of the gas used in Finland comes from Russia, but gas only accounts for about 5% of the country’s annual energy consumption.
“Unfortunately, our contracted natural gas supplies will now be halted,” Gasum CEO Mika Wiljanen said in a statement.
“However, we have been well prepared for this situation and provided that the gas network will not be disrupted, we will be able to supply gas to all customers in the coming months,” he said. speak.
The cut-off time is expected at 04:00 GMT on May 21.
Gasum, which warned on Wednesday that Russian supplies could be cut, said it would continue to supply gas to Finnish customers from other sources through the Balticconnector pipeline linking Finland to Estonia. .
On Friday, Finland said it had agreed to charter a storage and refueling vessel from US-based Excelerate Energy to help replace Russian supplies, starting in the fourth quarter of this year.
Vessels that convert supercooled liquefied natural gas (LNG) can be transported back to gas.
Gazprom Export, the export arm of Gazprom, confirmed on Friday that it will suspend gas sales to Gasum starting Saturday.
Gazprom Export said this was because Gasum failed to pay for gas delivered in April under new Russian regulations requiring payment in rubles.
It also said it would defend its interests in the arbitration proceedings.
Ahead of the Gasum announcement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Moscow had no detailed information regarding Gazprom’s supply contracts.
“But obviously nothing will be given to anyone for free,” he said.
The prospect of losing most of the gas supply has prompted major players in the Finnish industry such as Neste, Metsa and others to look for alternative energy sources or make contingency plans to adjust operations. their production.
Forestry group Stora Enso said it has replaced Russian natural gas with liquefied natural gas at all of its units.
Peer company UPM said it uses gas supplied via the BalticConnector pipeline from Western suppliers but is still bracing for the possibility of a short-term disruption.
