World energy giants buy Russian gas 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 an account at a Russian bank without changing the existing contract.
Oil and gas company Eni announced that it has started the procedures to open a dual payment account with Gazprombank to comply with the mechanism of paying for gas in Russian rubles, the Italian newspaper Corriere reported on May 17.
“Regarding the upcoming payment period, Eni has begun to carry out, as a precautionary measure, the procedures related to the opening of two current accounts with Gazprombank, one in euros and the other in rubles, at Gazprom’s unilateral request to amend existing contracts to accommodate the new payment procedure,” Eni said in a statement.
These accounts will allow Eni to pay for Russian gas under new regulations introduced at the end of March, in response to economic sanctions related to Ukraine applicable to this country. According to the publication, the company has been waiting to comply with its contracts with Gazprom. In the statement, Eni noted that it did not expect to accept changes to the payment mechanism and that “the opening of the account took place on a temporary basis and did not affect any contractual rights of the company.” “.
Under the new Russian payment scheme – affects only the countries that imposed the order punish Russia – payments in the currency of their choice will be deposited at Gazprombank and the bank will then convert these payments into rubles so that they can access their gas supplier Gazprom. Eni said the energy group Gazprom, along with Russia’s federal agencies, had reassured the company that any technical delays or inability to complete the conversion on time would not affect the energy source. provide.
However, the company is worried whether Russia’s compliance with the new terms will be seen as a violation of sanctions against Moscow, and has vowed to “initiate international arbitration on the basis of Swedish law”. required by existing contracts) to resolve doubts regarding contract changes required by the new procedure”.
The European Commission has strongly opposed Russia’s new gas payment plan. According to spokesman Eric Mamer, while enforcing the sanctions, which are jointly decided by the EU, depending on the member states, they have legal effect in the EU and their compliance Complying with Russia’s requirements could be considered a violation.
Companies all over EU take a different stance on the ruble gas payment plan. Finnish gas distribution company Gasum announced on May 17 that it will not use Gazprom’s proposed payment system, according to a TASS news agency report.
Meanwhile, French power company Engie said it had reached an agreement with Gazprom on how to pay for gas deliveries from Russia, without elaborating. Overall, according to Bloomberg, at least 20 European energy companies have set up accounts with Gazprombank to comply with the new payment mechanism by way of payment. rubleas the gas payment deadline is approaching, the closest is expected to be at the end of May.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: laodong.vn – Read the original article here