Polish state-owned gas and oil company PGNiG said that Gazprom will stop supplying gas to Poland from tomorrow morning. Earlier, the Polish media based on anonymous sources reported that gas supplies from Russia had stopped. According to PGNiG, Gazprom has violated the contract and will take steps to resume gas deliveries.
The Polish climate minister, responding to reports in the Polish media, said in Tweet Polish gas storage facilities are 76 percent full and Poland does not need to worry about gas shortages. Currently, Poland gets about 60 percent of its gas from Russia. The contract with Gazprom for gas through the Yamal pipeline will in any case expire at the end of this year on the initiative of Poland. The pipeline is expected to be completed in October, when Poland will receive gas via Norway. Poland is also investing in LNG.
The interruption of gas supplies through the Yamal pipeline may be related to Poland’s refusal to pay directly or indirectly in rubles for Russian gas. A few weeks ago, Russian President Putin decided by decree that countries that buy Russian gas should open an account in rubles with the gas supplier bank Gazprom.
Then this bank converts deposits in euros or dollars into rubles. Gas recipients oppose this construction, because their contracts with Russia often state that they can pay in their own currency. Poland reiterated today that it does not want to comply with the Russian demand.
Poland also included 50 oligarchs and Russian companies, including Gazprom, on the sanctions list today. This list comes on top of the sanctions that have been agreed upon at the level of the European Union.
