The Netherlands and Denmark believe they will end up among the European countries to which Russia no longer agrees to supply gas. In addition to Finland, deliveries previously ended in Poland and Bulgaria.
30.5. 19:25
Netherlands and Denmark expect Russian gas supplies to end on Tuesday, May 31st. Neither country has agreed to Russia’s changed payment terms and the opening of a ruble account with Gazprombank.
Dutch gas company Gas Terra announced on Monday that Gazprom had announced it would cut off natural gas supplies on Tuesday. According to the company, it has already signed new agreements to replace Russian natural gas supplies for the coming months. Gazprom is scheduled to supply two billion cubic meters of natural gas between late May and October.
The Dutch state owns half of Gas Terra through the energy company EBN, and the remaining two quarters are owned by the energy giants Shell and Exxon.
The Netherlands has been Europe’s third largest importer of Russian natural gas after Germany and Italy. Most of the Dutch natural gas imports come from outside Russia.
Danish energy company Ørsted warned separately on Monday that Gazprom Export could cut off gas supplies to the country because the company has not agreed to pay for gas in line with Russian requirements. The due date for the energy company’s gas bill is Tuesday.
Ørsted considers that the existing agreements do not require it to comply with Gazprom’s requirements and that the Danish company considers the possible interruption of gas supplies to be a breach of contract.
According to the Danish Energy Agency, the cessation of natural gas supplies will not have a direct impact on the availability of energy or gas in the country. According to Ørsted, it will be able to buy gas on the European market in order to supply it to its customers. Ørsted supplies gas mainly to large companies in Denmark and Sweden.
From Russia There is no direct natural gas pipeline to Denmark, ie gas supplies cannot be cut directly from Russia. The situation is different in Finland, to which Russia stopped exporting gas on Saturday May 21, because Finland did not agree to Russia’s demands. Russian gas has entered Finland via a gas pipeline crossing the eastern border.
Russia has previously cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria.
On the other hand, in Germany, Italy and France, it has been considered that Russia’s demands to change the payment arrangements can be accepted in order for supplies to continue.
The cessation of gas supplies to Russia will come as no surprise, and industry and companies have been preparing for the situation for at least weeks. Demand for gas has already fallen due to rising prices.
Gazprom In April, demanded Gasum, which sells Russian natural gas in Finland, to pay the payments in rubles agreed in the supply agreement. The first ruble payment would be due on Friday, May 20th. According to Gasum, Gazprom has made other claims against it.
According to Gasum, gas users in Finland do not have to worry about gas availability, at least during the summer.
In winter, demand for gas will increase both in Finland and elsewhere in Europe. This will intensify competition in the gas market.
Towards the end of the year A lng terminal ship would be coming to Finland, which is expected to replace Russian natural gas. Lng is liquefied natural gas that can be transported by tankers over long distances.
In addition, efforts are being made to replace Russian gas supplies with the Baltic Connector gas pipeline connecting Finland and Estonia and the gas pipeline connecting Poland and Lithuania, which began operations at the beginning of May. At the same time, investment in zero-emission energy is accelerating.
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