Finnish gas company Gasum announced on Friday (20) that Russia will cut off all natural gas supplies to the country from early Saturday morning (21).
According to the Finnish operator, the reduction was due to Finland’s refusal to pay in rubles for the supply of this fossil fuel, which Gasum refused.
Across Europe, about 30% of all gas consumed comes from Russia.
“Gazprom (Russian state-owned gas company) has informed Jassum that all natural gas supplies to Finland stipulated in the contract will be cut off from 04:00 on Saturday (21),” said the company’s CEO, Mika Wilkanen. “It is unfortunate that the supplies stipulated in the contract are out of order,” he added.
The Finnish company said that with the reserve it still had, it would be possible to maintain gas supplies to end consumers “for the next few months”.
The statement added, “We were already preparing for this situation and there will be no interruption in transporting gas to consumers, so we will be able to continue supplying gas for the next few months.”
Faced with dozens of economic sanctions imposed by European countries and the United States, Russia began demanding payment in rubles, the local currency, for the country’s exported inputs.