Russian energy concern Gazprom says it has cut off gas supplies to the Netherlands after the country's gas trader GasTerra, refused to adopt a new payment system required by Russia's government that forces all payments to be made in rubles through a special account system.
"Payments for gas supplied from April 1 must be made in rubles using the new details, about which the counterparties were informed in a timely manner," Gazprom said in a statement posted on Telegram on May 31.
GasTerra, which which buys and trades gas on behalf of the Dutch government, acknowledged in a statement that it had decided "not to comply" with the new payment system, which the Groningen-based company said posed "too great a risk."
"GasTerra will not go along with Gazprom’s payment demands. This is because to do so would risk breaching sanctions imposed by the EU and also because there are too many financial and operational risks associated with the required payment route," the statement said.
"GasTerra has repeatedly urged Gazprom to respect the contractually agreed payment structure and supply obligations, but to no avail," it added.
President Vladimir Putin launched the gas-payment system from April 1 to convert payments for Russian gas supplies to countries that Moscow considers "unfriendly."
Under the system, purchasers of Russian gas set up ruble and foreign-currency accounts inside of Russia. They pay for the gas in euros or dollars, and then the bank transfers the money into the corresponding ruble account.
Some countries, such as Bulgaria, Poland, and Finland, have refused to pay for gas under the proposed scheme, after which gas supplies to these countries were halted.