The Russia-Europe tension escalates after Finland declined to pay Gazprom in roubles. This has caused Russia to stop supplying natural gas to the Nordic country and has enraged Moscow by pushing for Nato membership.
Because of sanctions imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Gazprom Export has asked that European countries pay for Russian gas supplies in roubles, but Finland has refused.
Gas imports through the Imatra entry point have been halted, according to Gasgrid Finland. Imatra is Finland’s entry point for Russian gas.
After the Nordic country refinish state-owned gas wholesaler Gasum stated on Friday that Gazprom had warned that flows will be interrupted from 0400 GMT on Saturday morning, Russia has halted providing natural gas to Finland. This has infuriated Moscow by asking for Nato membership. On Saturday, Gasum announced that the floods had ceased.
It claimed in a statement that “natural gas supplies to Finland under Gasum’s supply contract have been turned off.”
“Beginning today, Gasum will distribute natural gas to its customers from other sources via the Balticconnector pipeline during the forthcoming summer season.”
The Balticconnector connects Finland to Estonia’s gas grid.
The majority of European supply contracts are in Euros or Dollars, and Moscow turned off gas to Bulgaria and Poland last month when they refused to meet the new payment terms.
Gasum, the Finnish government, and individual gas-consuming enterprises in Finland have stated that they are prepared for a Russian gas supply disruption and that the country will be OK.
“Both physically and commercially, the Finnish gas infrastructure is in balance,” Gasgrid said on Saturday.
Finland announced on Friday that it has agreed to charter a storage and regasification vessel from Excelerate Energy in the United States to assist replace Russian supplies beginning in the fourth quarter of this year.
The vessel converts supercooled liquefied natural gas (LNG) delivered by ships into normal gas.
We wwill provide more updates on the Russia-Europe tension as they trend.
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