Gazprom stopped deliveries to Denmark and Germany for non-payment of gas in rubles

According to Gazprom in the Telegram messenger, by the end of the working day on May 31, Gazprom Export had not received payment from Western counterparties for gas supplies made in April. In accordance with Decree of the President of Russia No. 172 dated March 31, 2022, payments for consumed gas had to be made in Russian rubles.

According to RIA Novosti, by the end of 2021, Gazprom Export provided 2/3 of the gas supplies needed by Danish consumers. The total volume of gas sent to Orsted was 1.97 billion cubic meters. Gazprom supplied up to 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Shell Energy Europe for German consumers.

The transition to payments for energy resources in rubles was Russia's reaction to the imposition of Western sanctions against it, provoked by the conduct of a military special operation of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine. In order to reduce the dependence of the Russian economy on dollars and euros, as well as on the pressure of "unfriendly countries", Moscow, by decree of President Putin, began accepting payments for gas in its national currency from April 1. For further payments in rubles, consumers were recommended to open ruble accounts with Gazprombank.

The Russian side warned that the counterparties' refusal to switch to rubles would be regarded as a default. This may lead to the suspension of further deliveries.

A number of EU countries refused to convert payments into rubles, calling the change in the payment currency unacceptable for themselves. In such conditions, Gazprom stopped deliveries of fuel to Bulgaria, Poland and Finland due to lack of payment. The confrontation between Russia and the EU in matters of energy supplies provoked a sharp jump in prices for fuel and housing and communal services in the EU and the USA. In a number of US states, the jump in car fuel prices in annual terms amounted to 60%.