The refusal of the EU countries to pay for gas in rubles almost halved the injection into German storage facilities
According to Gas Infrastructure Europe ( GIE ), the rate of gas injection into underground storage facilities in Germany has slowed down against the backdrop of recent refusals by European countries to pay for Russian energy resources under a new mechanism that involves payment in rubles. It is noted that the daily volume of gas injection has decreased by about half.
“After that (suspension of gas supplies from the Russian Federation to the Netherlands, Denmark and partly to Germany . - "Kommersant") gas injection into German UGSFs (underground gas storage facilities . - "Kommersant" ) sank significantly: since the beginning of May, on average, storage facilities there ( in Germany . - Kommersant ) were filled by 0.5% per day, and on some days by 0.7%, then from May 30 we are talking about rates of 0.3%. As of June 1, they are 49.16% full,” GIE said.
It is clarified that a similar trend is recorded in Europe as a whole, and not only in Germany: since May 30, UGS facilities in the EU are also filled on average by 0.3% daily compared to early May (0.4–0.5%) .
This week, the Danish company Orsted announced its refusal to pay for Russian gas in rubles. Earlier, similar decisions were made by importers from Poland, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and Finland, in connection with which Gazprom stopped supplying energy resources to companies from these countries.
On April 1, new rules for paying for Russian gas came into force , according to which “unfriendly countries” are required to make payments for energy from the Russian Federation through a special account with Gazprombank. According to the new mechanism, the account must receive funds in foreign currency, which are subsequently converted by the bank into rubles through the Moscow Exchange.
