Moscow - Russia has completely stopped the supply of gas to Danish energy group Orsted and Shell Energy Europe Limited, which supplies Germany, after they refused the new sanctions-induced payment arrangement, Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Gazprom Export said that both companies have announced that they will not pay for Russian gas in rubles.
“Gazprom completely suspends gas supplies to Denmark’s Orsted Salg & Service A/S due to failure to pay in rubles,” the company said and added in a separate identical statement that “Gazprom completely suspends gas supplies to Shell Energy Europe Limited due to failure to pay in rubles.”
Russia's largest gas exporter said that it had not received a payment for gas supplied in April from neither of the companies by the due date of May 31.
Gazprom said it supplied 1.97 billion cubic meters of gas to Orsted Salg & Service in 2021, which amounted to about two-thirds of the total gas consumption in Denmark. The contract between Gazprom Export and Shell Energy Europe for gas supplies to Germany provides for a volume of up to 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas per year, the company added.
In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government and Gazprom to switch to ruble payments for gas deliveries to the countries that imposed sanctions on Russia over its special military operation in Ukraine.
Gazprom has already suspended gas deliveries to gas importers in Bulgaria, Poland, Finland and the Netherlands after they rejected the new payment arrangement.
Sputnik