Estonia's Gas Company Eesti Gaas Not Planning To Pay For Russian Gas In Rubles - CEO

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th April, 2022) Estonian gas company Eesti Gaas is not planning on paying Russian gas giant Gazprom for gas deliveries in rubles or buying gas from Moscow in the nearest future, Margus Kaasik, the CEO of Eesti Gaas, said on Wednesday.

"The European Union has issued its preliminary position where it calls paying in rubles a problem, which is why European countries and companies have not accepted these ruble payments and neither can we," Estonian broadcaster ERR quoted Kaasik as saying.

He added that Russia's gas supplies ended in April, and buying gas from Moscow no longer makes economic sense. Kaasik reassured Estonian consumers that they will not be affected in the short-term as gas prices in May and June will be preserved. He also noted that the company will be selling gas from the reserves while buying additional supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Klaipeda LNG terminal in Lithuania.

However, Kaasik said that Eesti Gaas is looking for alternatives as Estonia will require more gas by fall, noting that the Klaipeda terminal is not that big to have enough supplies for the entire winter.

"At best, we will have the same amount of gas that we currently have there by winter. But that is less than half the capacity and we're not likely to get any more.

The reality today is that we can have no more gas there without Russian deliveries. At least not by any significant volume," he said.

He noted that building of a second LNG terminal in the Baltic region is the only way to ensure gas supply security.

On March 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree, stipulating that all contracts for gas supplies with companies registered in "unfriendly" countries be settled in rubles. The measure only concerns Gazprom's pipeline exports.

Earlier in the day, Gazprom suspended supplies of gas to Bulgaria and Poland as the company has yet to receive payments for the deliveries made in April, which were to be paid in rubles. The company noted that the supplies will be resumed as soon as payments are made in rubles in line with Putin's decree.

The Klaipeda LNG terminal, a floating liquefied natural gas regasification terminal opened in 2014 to help the Baltic States rid itself of the Russian "monopoly" on gas, was believed to be capable of providing the region with required volumes. Nevertheless, the Latvian Ministry of Economics in mid-March said that additional funding is required to develop the infrastructure of the terminal in order to substitute Russian gas.