Gazprom Suspends Contract Execution with Ørsted and Shell Energy Europe Starting June
[Asia Economy International Department Reporter] Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom announced on the 31st (local time) that it will suspend contract fulfillment with Danish energy company Orsted and multinational energy company Shell Energy Europe, both of which refused to make payments in rubles.
Accordingly, the supply of Russian natural gas to Denmark and Germany under contracts with the two companies is expected to be suspended starting in June.
Gazprom Export, the export subsidiary of Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom, stated through its Telegram account that "we have not received payment from Orsted for the gas supplied in April by the contract payment deadline of May 31," and "we have notified Orsted that gas supply will be suspended from June 1 in relation to this."
Gazprom Export emphasized, "The suspension of gas supply will continue until payment in rubles is made in accordance with the method stipulated by the Russian presidential decree dated March 31." It also added that Orsted had previously notified that it would not make payments in rubles.
On the same day, Gazprom Export also announced via another Telegram account that Shell Energy Europe, which had a contract to supply 1.2 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas annually to Germany, also refused to make payments in rubles and failed to pay for the gas supplied in April, resulting in gas supply being suspended from June 1. Shell Energy Europe is also reported to have previously notified Gazprom Export that it would not make payments in rubles.
Gazprom also notified Dutch natural gas wholesaler GasTerra, which refused to make payments in rubles, of the suspension of gas supply the day before.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree at the end of March requiring buyers from unfriendly countries, including European Union (EU) member states, to make payments for Russian gas purchases in Russian currency, rubles, starting April 1.
Since then, Gazprom has suspended gas supplies to European companies in countries such as Bulgaria, Poland, and Finland that have not accepted this demand.
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