Russiaʼs Gazprom cut off gas supplies to the British-Dutch company Shell Energy Company and the Danish company Ostred on June 1. These companies did not pay their bills in Russian rubles, as required in Russia.
This is stated in the reports of Gazprom.
Shell contracted gas to Germany and Orsted to Denmark. It is noted that in 2021 Gazprom transported 1.97 billion cubic meters of gas to Orsted, which was 2/3 of the total gas consumption in Denmark. The contract between Gazprom Export and Shell for supplies to Germany provided for up to 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
Orsted, like Dutch trader Gasterra, has previously said it will not pay in rubles. After that, Gazprom cut off gas supplies to the Netherlands.
At the same time, the German energy companies RWE and Uniper and the Austrian OMV have already paid Gazprom in rubles.
- On April 1, Russian President Putin demanded the payment to be converted into rubles for Russian gas supplies to countries it considers "unfriendly." Russia has stated the need to open ruble accounts with Gazprombank.
- Some countries (Bulgaria, Poland, Finland, and others) refused to pay under the new scheme.