LONDON, March 24. /TASS/. Russia’s decision to transfer payments for the Russian natural gas to rubles will add uncertainty to the European gas market and may speed up Russian energy buyers’ exit from Russian gas altogether, Senior Analyst at Rystad Energy consultancy Vinicius Romano believes.
"The implementation [of the decision] looks very unclear: nearly all Russian gas purchase contracts into Europe are denominated in Euros or Dollars. Gas supply agreements are generally considered sacrosanct: and in an extreme scenario, insisting on Ruble payments may give buyers cause to re-open other aspects of their contracts - such as the duration - and simply speed up their exit from Russian gas altogether," according to the analyst’s note obtained by TASS.
"At face value this appears to be an attempt to prop up the Ruble by compelling gas buyers to buy the previously free-falling currency in order to pay. What is clear however, is that this has added another element of uncertainty to the already chaotic European gas market by complicating gas purchases that many countries have been reluctant to cut," Romano said.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would refuse to accept payment for natural gas supplies in "compromised" currencies, including dollars and euros, and would move to payments in rubles. Future changes in gas contracts with unfriendly countries will only affect the currency of payment, which will be changed to the Russian ruble, Putin noted.