Gazprom completed the transfer of Europe to rubles

Alexey Gromov, Principal Director on Energy Studies of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to the Vzglyad newspaper on the results of the EU countries transition to ruble payments for the Russian gas supply.

As of June 1, 2022, the number of European companies to which Gazprom stopped gas supplies has grown to six. The reason is the refusal of these companies to make payments under the ruble scheme.

“I believe that this is the maximum number of companies that refused to switch to settlements in rubles. Our institute and other experts predicted just such a list. Back in April, the Danish and Dutch governments officially banned their companies from switching to the ruble payment scheme for gas proposed by Russia. Therefore, it was difficult to expect other actions from these European companies. Then Finland joined them,” Alexey Gromov says.

According to him, there should no longer be new “refuseniks”, because all the deadlines for paying for new gas supplies have passed. It can be expected that all other gas buyers in the European Union have switched to the new payment scheme proposed by Russia and have already made the necessary payment.

“Of course, this situation will lead to a decrease in supplies via Nord Stream. However, the pipe loading will not change radically. Most likely, Gazprom will try to redirect part of the already paid contract volumes from the Ukrainian route to Nord Stream 1. Ukraine actually left only one gas supply channel - through the Sudzha GIS, blocking the other way. The loading schedule of the Sudzha station shows that it does not ensure the transportation of the entire volume of orders,” Alexey Gromov notes.