Russia’s Gas Supply to Finland Has Been Cut Off

Russia has stopped supplying natural gas to Finland, which has infuriated Moscow by bidding for Nato membership after the Nordic nation refused to pay provider Gazprom in roubles.

Because of sanctions implemented in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Gazprom Export has asked that European countries pay for Russian gas supplies in roubles, but Finland has refused.

#Gazprom halted gas supplies to #Finland due to its refusal to pay in rubles, reports @Reuters.

This does not threaten the country’s energy security, as the percentage of fuel supplied from #Russia is small. pic.twitter.com/dvrrjYYUpG

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) May 21, 2022

“Gas imports through the Imatra entrance point have ceased,” stated Gasgrid Finland in a release. Imatra is the main port of entry for Russian gas entering Finland.

Gasum, Finland’s state-owned gas distributor, said on Friday that Gazprom had notified that flows will be cut off at 0400 GMT on Saturday morning. Gasum also stated that the floods had ceased on Saturday.

“Natural gas supplies to Finland have indeed been turned off under Gasum’s supply contract,” the company stated in a statement. On Friday, Gazprom Export said that flows will be reduced because Gasum had failed to comply with new Russian legislation demanding a settlement in roubles.

The majority of the gas used in Finland originates from Russia, while gas accounts for just approximately 5% of the country’s yearly energy consumption.

Finland and neighboring Sweden violated their historical military non-alignment this week by applying for Closer ties, following a surge in popular and parliamentary favor for the union following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Russia has warned Finland that joining NATO would be a terrible error with the far implications. The majority of European supplies are in euros or dollars, and Moscow turned off gas to Bulgaria and Poland the previous month after they failed to agree to the new repayments.

Finland announced on Friday that it has decided to contract a storage and regasification vessel from Accelerate Energy in the United States to assist supplement Russian supplies beginning in the fourth quarter of this year. The vessel converts rapidly cooled, liquefied natural gas (LNG) from ships into normal gas.