Russia cuts off gas to Finland over payments dispute
- Most gas used in Finland comes from Russia but gas only accounts for about 5 per cent of the Scandinavian country’s annual energy consumption
- Moscow already cut off gas to Bulgaria and Poland last month after they refused to comply with new Russian rules requiring settlements in roubles
“Gas imports through Imatra entry point have been stopped,” Gasgrid Finland said in a statement.
Imatra is the entry point for Russian gas into Finland.
Finnish state-owned gas wholesaler Gasum on Friday said Gazprom had warned that flows would be halted on Saturday morning.
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Gasum also confirmed on Saturday that the flows had stopped.
“Natural gas supplies to Finland under Gasum’s supply contract have been cut off,” it said in a statement.
“Starting from today, during the upcoming summer season, Gasum will supply natural gas to its customers from other sources through the Balticconnector pipeline.”
Balticconnector links Finland to neighbouring Estonia’s gas grid.
Gazprom Export on Friday said flows would be cut because Gasum had not complied with the new Russian rules requiring settlement in roubles.
Most gas used in Finland comes from Russia but gas only accounts for about 5 per cent of its annual energy consumption.
Most European supply contracts are denominated in euros or US dollars and Moscow already cut off gas to Bulgaria and Poland last month after they refused to comply with the new payment terms.
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.
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“The Finnish gas system is in the balance both physically and commercially,” Gasgrid said in a statement 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.
