Russia’s Gazprom has halted gas exports to neighbouring Finland, in the latest escalation of an energy payments dispute with Western nations.
An LNG ship docking at Gasum’s terminal in Finland. Credit: Gasum official website
Russia’s Gazprom has halted gas exports to neighbouring Finland, in the latest escalation of an energy payments dispute with Western nations.
Gazprom announced last month that European countries must pay for Russian gas supplies in roubles because of sanctions imposed over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, but Finland was one of the few European countries that refused to do so.
The move by Gazprom comes at the same time as Finland is applying to join the NATO military alliance, a decision spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Gazprom said flows would be cut because Gasum had not complied with the new Russian rules requiring settlement in roubles. Most European supply contracts are denominated in euros or dollars and Moscow already cut off gas to Bulgaria and Poland last month after they refused to comply with the new payment terms.
The majority of gas used in Finland comes from Russia but gas only accounts for about 5% of its annual energy consumption. Gasum, the Finnish government and individual gas consuming companies in Finland have said they were prepared for a shutdown of Russian flows and that the country will manage without. “The Finnish gas system is in balance both physically and commercially,” Gasgrid said on Saturday.
Finland on Friday said it had agreed to charter a storage and regasification vessel from US-based Excelerate Energy to help replace Russian supplies, starting in the fourth quarter this year. The vessel turns supercooled, liquefied natural gas (LNG), which arrives on ships, back into regular gas.
