EU to boost Russian gas imports

The European Union plans to significantly increase the purchase of Russian natural gas through countries that are ready to pay for the commodity in rubles, TASS news agency reported, Wednesday citing a government source in Brussels.   

“An emergency meeting of the Gas Coordinating Group took place today in view of the situation in Poland and Bulgaria. A temporary decision was made to significantly increase gas purchases from Russia through the remaining channels, which will allow Poland and Bulgaria to purchase additional volumes of gas on the European market.” the source was cited as saying.  

The move is aimed to compensate for the lack of supplies to Poland and Bulgaria after Russian energy giant Gazprom announced that it would no longer deliver gas to the 2 countries due to their refusal to adhere to the new ruble-based gas payment mechanism. Last month, Russia demanded that buyers from “unfriendly” countries open ruble accounts in a Russian bank for the transfer of payments. The measure covers only the countries that placed sanctions on Moscow over Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.  

Earlier, Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that at least 10 European companies have opened accounts to pay for Russian gas in rubles and 4 of them have already made payments in accordance with Moscow’s new demand. It also cited a source in Gazprom as saying Russia is unlikely to halt supplies to any more countries, should they refuse the new payment requirement, until the second half of May when the next payments are due.  
Brussels April 27 rt.com