Finnish company sues Russian Gazprom for selling gas in rubles

RT reports, energy supplier Gasum is state-owned by Finland said it would not accept Russia’s demand to pay for gas in rubles. Gasum has announced plans to bring Gazprom Export, a subsidiary of Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom, to arbitration to resolve the dispute.

“In this situation, Gasum has no choice but to take the contract to arbitration. In this challenging situation, we will do our best to be able to provide the necessary energy to our Finnish customers,” Gasum chief executive officer Mika Wiljanen said in a statement.

The company is planning to import energy next summer through the BalticConnector gas pipeline, which links the Finnish and Baltic gas networks across the Gulf of Finland.

Gasum acknowledges that transmission capacity limitations can make this difficult. As a long-term solution, Finland aims to lease a floating terminal with Estonia to import liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The Nordic country buys most of its gas from Russia, but natural gas accounts for only 5% of its annual energy consumption. However, that loss of supply could have a negative impact on companies in the energy and forestry sectors, as well as in the chemical and food industries.

Last week, the European Union issued an updated guide on how EU businesses can pay for Russian gas without violating the sanctions imposed on the country. Some European energy companies have complied with the requirement to pay in rubles.

Eni, considered one of the top seven oil and gas companies in the world in Italy, agrees to pay buy Russian gas in rubles. Eni is opening two payment accounts, one in euro and one in ruble, at Russia’s Gazprombank in order to modify existing contracts to accommodate the new payment procedure.

Under Russia’s new payment scheme – which affects only countries that impose sanctions on Russia – payments in the currency of their choice will be deposited at Gazprombank and the bank will then transfer the this payment in rubles so that they can access the gas supplier is Gazprom.