Finland's Gasum Still Buying Natural Gas From Russia - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st March, 2023) Finland's state-owned gas company Gasum has continued buying natural gas from Russia's Gazprom and Novatek, Finnish news agency Yle reported.

Gasum, the biggest liquefied natural gas distributor in Scandinavia, has imported 175 million Euros ($188 million) worth of gas from Russia since February 2022 under a long-term contract with Gazprom, the agency said, citing Finnish customs figures.

"The contract is a so-called take-or-pay contract, which is common in gas supply contracts. It means that Gasum is obliged to pay for a certain amount of liquefied natural gas (LNG) every year, whether we get it from Russia or not," the company said in an email, obtained by Yle.

It insists that it imports only "the minimum amount of LNG from Russia as stipulated in the contract" and that no extra shipments have been agreed on or will be ordered in the future.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered last spring that payments to Russian companies be made in rubles, rather than euros or Dollars. Gasum refused to switch the Currency and took Gazprom to an arbitration court in Stockholm, which ruled in December that Gasum was more than 300 million euro in arrears for gas and that Gazprom's halt on deliveries was justified. It also concluded that Gasum was not obligated to pay in rubles. The companies were told to continue their negotiations.