Russia’s Gazprom cutting Dutch gas supplies

RUSSIA’S Gazprom will halt gas supplies to the Netherlands’ partly state-owned energy firm GasTerra on Tuesday after it refused to pay in roubles following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Dutch company said. Moscow has asked clients from “unfriendly countries” – including EU member states – to pay for gas in roubles, a way to sidestep Western financial sanctions against its central bank over the February 24 offensive. GasTerra had “decided not to comply with Gazprom’s unilateral payment requirements” as they would breach EU sanctions and create “financial and operational risks”, the Dutch firm said in a statement on Monday. “In response to this decision by GasTerra, Gazprom has announced that it will discontinue supply with effect from May 31, 2022,” it said. The Russian energy giant’s move 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. “GasTerra has repeatedly urged Gazprom to respect the contractually agreed payment structure and delivery obligations, unfortunately to no avail,” it said. The Dutch state directly owns a 10-percent stake in GasTerra plus another 40 per cent through state-owned gas firm EBN. The rest is owned by energy giants Shell and Esso. Looking for other sources

The Dutch government said it “understands” GasTerra’s decision. “This decision has no consequences for the physical supply of gas to Dutch households,” Climate and Energy Minister Rob Jetten said on Twitter. The Netherlands is the latest in a series of European countries to be hit with a cut in Russian gas, with Finland seeing its supplies severed in May. The Dutch rely on Russia for around 15 per cent of their gas supplies, amounting to some six billion cubic metres a year, the government says. This is lower than the EU average of 40 percent, but like other European countries the Netherlands is scrambling to reduce its dependence on Russian energy. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, in Brussels for an EU summit, where leaders are struggling to agree on a Russian oil embargo, insisted that his country did not have an energy security issue. “I think there is not a big issue about the Dutch energy security, of course, we are all working on making sure that we stay stable in terms of our energy supply,” he told reporters. The Dutch government has already delayed the closure of a huge gas field in the northern province of Groningen, which has suffered repeated earthquakes due to gas extraction, to cope with the energy crisis. AFP