Russia unexpectedly refused a gas payment in rubles to Germany, Austria

Gazprombankthe key Russian bank that processes gas payments in Europe, is said to have refused some payments for gas shipments in April and May to Germany and Austria even though they made through an account in rubles.

Bloomberg reported that Gazprombank refused the transaction because the payments came from a former Russian trading company that was nationalized in Germany.

Prior to April 4, Gazprom Marketing & Trading Limited (GM&T) was a subsidiary controlled by Russia’s Gazprom Germania Group in Germany. On April 4, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck informed the press that GM&T will be regulated by the German energy regulator until September 30.

This means that the energy regulator Virtue will assume the role of a shareholder and be able to take all necessary measures to ensure the security of energy supplies to Germany amid the deepening of the unprecedented crisis in Europe. due to sanctions against Russia, the region’s main gas supplier.

Under the interim agreement, voting rights in Gazprom Germania will be transferred to the Bundesnetzagentur. The German energy regulator will also be allowed to fire management members and appoint new ones. At the same time, the media previously reported that Germany is considering the nationalization of Gazprom’s subsidiaries in Germany regarding the possibility of terminating energy supplies from Russia.

The rejected payment is believed to be part of a medium-term contract to supply gas at a volume of 7 terawatt-hours (TWh) by the end of 2023.

In March, the Russian government issued a decree requiring European energy companies to open accounts at Gazprombank, where payments in Euros or USD would be converted to rubles. The measure was taken shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded that “unfriendly countries” (those that impose sanctions on Russia) pay for gas from Moscow in rubles.

In the first day of this month, EU said that paying for Russian gas in rubles at the request of the Kremlin would violate sanctions related to Ukraine. However, some member states have agreed to use the new payment mechanism and have made the first payments in Russian currency.

According to a statement by Germany’s energy regulator, GM&T’s case of dealing with a very small amount of gas, related to a payment process, is “not clear”. Gas will be paid for in euros as agreed in the contract, which says GM&T can replace gas by buying on the open market if needed.