Russia halts gas supplies to Netherlands. Denmark could be next
- Russia has cut natural gas supplied via pipelines to the Netherlands after it rejected paying in roubles
- It is the latest European country to be hit with a cut in Russian gas, after Poland, Bulgaria and Finland
Russia’s Gazprom said on Tuesday it had halted gas supplies to the Netherlands after Dutch energy firm GasTerra refused to pay in roubles following the Russian military offensive in Ukraine.
“Gazprom has completely stopped gas supplies to GasTerra due to non-payment in roubles,” the Russian gas giant said in a statement.
Moscow has demanded that clients from “unfriendly countries” – including EU member states – pay for its gas in roubles, a way to sidestep Western financial sanctions against its central bank over the Ukraine conflict.
Gazprom said that as of May 30 it had received no payments for Dutch gas supplies in April, despite notifying GasTerra that payments for gas supplied from April 1 needed to be made in roubles.
Partly state-owned GasTerra on Monday said it expected to be cut off after it “decided not to comply with Gazprom’s unilateral payment requirements” as they would breach EU sanctions.
The cut-off means that two billion cubic metres of gas will not be supplied to the Netherlands between now and October, GasTerra said, adding that it “has anticipated this by purchasing gas elsewhere”.