According to the Finnish energy company Gasum, Russia stopped gas deliveries to Finland on 21 May. This was also confirmed by the Russian state-owned company Gazprom Export. Gazprom Export refers to outstanding payments for gas delivered in April. The Finnish company Gasum has confirmed that it does not accept the Russian demand to pay for gas deliveries in roubles. Russia is also no longer supplying gas to Poland and Bulgaria for the same reason.
Finland obtains 92 per cent of its gas requirements from Russia
Gasum CEO Mika Wiljanen commented: “It is deeply regrettable that gas deliveries under our contract are now stopped. However, we have prepared carefully for this situation, and if there are no disruptions in the gas network, we will be able to supply all our customers with gas in the coming months.” Finland will receive the missing gas via the Balticconnector natural gas pipeline.
Image: Reichtagsgebäude in Helsinki Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
With 92 per cent of its gas demand, Finland obtains almost all of its gas from Russia. According to the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation, however, Finland only covers about five per cent of its energy needs with gas. Gasum is currently the only energy company in Finland that buys gas directly from Russia.
Cessation of gas deliveries to Finland has no effect on German gas supply
According to the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and the Federal Network Agency, however, the cessation of gas deliveries to Finland has no effect on the German gas supply. According to the Federal Network Agency, the gas supply in Germany is still guaranteed. The Ministry of Economics confirmed that it was monitoring the situation very closely. They are in constant exchange with their Finnish and European partners.
According to Finland expert Minna Alander, the cessation of Russian gas supplies is no reason to panic. Even larger consumers such as the chemical industry and bakeries are not having any problems with supply at the moment. The chairman of the Finnish Energy Industry Association,Jukka Leskelä , also does not expect any supply problems. According to Leskelä, there is still plenty of time before autumn and winter. Many companies have already taken safety precautions and are looking for alternatives to Russian gas. Starting in autumn, the Finns want to put a liquefied natural gas terminal into operation together with Estonia.
The background is likely to be an application for NATO membership
The background for the cessation of Russian gas deliveries is presumably Finland’s application to join NATO. Russia had already announced that it would react to this with measures.
Finland also no longer receives electricity from Russia
A few days before the gas supply stop, the Russian company Rao Nordic announced that it would no longer supply electricity to Finland. The reason given was also a failure to pay. However, the Finnish grid operator Fingrid does not expect supply bottlenecks. Finland gets about 10 per cent of its electricity from Russia. This could very well be compensated for by imports from Sweden and Norway.
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