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Poland continues purchasing Russian gas through supplies reversed from Germany

On April 27, Gazprom fully suspended direct supplies to the Polish PGNiG due to their failure to pay in rubles in due time

© AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. Poland continues purchasing Russian gas despite stating that it will not do so, Gazprom Spokesman Sergey Kupriyanov told reporters on Thursday, adding that as direct supplies from Russia were suspended due to the refusal to accept a new payment procedure Russian gas is reversed to Poland from Germany via the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline.

"This week Poland has refused to pay for Russian gas supplies under a new procedure, in rubles. It was officially announced that Russian gas is no longer needed and it will not be purchased. However, in reality this is wrong. After suspension of direct supplies Poland purchases Russian gas, but now in Germany, from which it is reversed to Poland via the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline," he said.

Reverse volumes roughly stand at 30 mln cubic meters per day, which almost sharply equals the requests contracted with Gazprom Export in previous days, Kupriyanov added.

TASS said earlier reverse gas supplies via the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline from Germany to Poland added another 3.5% early on April 28 after climbing more than five-fold on the previous day. Gas pumping via the pipeline from Germany to Poland rose to 1.28 mln cubic meters per hour.

Gazprom said on April 27 it had fully suspended gas supplies to the Bulgarian company Bulgargaz and the Polish PGNiG due to their failure to pay in rubles in due time.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered on March 23 that unfriendly states must pay for Russian gas in rubles, saying that Moscow would refuse to accept payments under gas contracts with those states in "compromised" currencies, particularly meaning dollars and euros. On April 26, Gazprom submitted to Polish and Bulgarian importing companies a notification on suspension of gas supplies starting April 27 due to their refusal to make final payments in Russian rubles.

According to figures provided by the Russian Federal Customs Service, Russian gas supplies to Poland increased by 9.4% in 2021 to 10.58 bln cubic meters, while deliveries to Bulgaria doubled last year to 3.15 bln cubic meters.

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