Photo: RT.
At least 10 European companies that buy natural gas from Gazprom have already opened accounts with Gazprombank to pay for their shipments in rubles, a source for the Russian company reported on Wednesday.
According to information from the Bloomberg news agency, four of them have already repaid their debts to Russia, and the next payments will be made after May 15.
Local media highlighted this Wednesday that the German company Uniper and Austria’s OMV have accepted the Russian government’s payment measure Gas and oil deliveries in rubles.
According to the TASS news agency, Uniper’s CFO Tiina Tuomela told the Russian counterpart that they were talking to the Berlin authorities about the possibility of meeting the payment obligation in rubles.
In this regard, the official explained that The mechanism used by the Eurasian nation would not violate the terms of the sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union after the start of the military operation in Ukrainelast on February 24th.
For his part, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer stated that his country, represented by the oil and gas group OMV, had accepted the Russian conditions for processing energy supplies.
The Prime Minister pointed out that the Austrian entity in charge of fuels has already opened an account in rubles with Gazprombank, as envisaged by measures announced by Moscow on March 31.
However, not all countries of the so-called Old Continent accepted Moscow’s decision. This Wednesday, the energy giant Gazprom completely stopped gas supplies to the Bulgarian company Bulgargaz and the Polish company PGNiG due to late payment in rubles.
According to the statement, Gazprom Export has contracted both companies in accordance with the provisions of the Russian government decree, which came into force on April 1, on the suspension of gas supplies from April 27.
The Russian gas company announced that by the end of yesterday’s session it had not received payments from Bulgaria and Poland for April fuel deliveries.
On March 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the decree on the rules for gas trade with countries classified as hostile to Russia, providing for the payment of fuel contracts in local currency.
“We offer contractors from these countries a clear and transparent scheme: in order to buy natural gas, they need to open ruble accounts in Russian banks, and these accounts will be available from tomorrow, January 1, he pointed out.
According to the head of state, Russia will consider it a breach of contract if buyers of its gas, belonging to the group of countries deemed unfriendly by Moscow, refuse to pay for it in rubles.
(With information from Prensa Latina)
See also:
Russia cuts off natural gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria