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Eni opens accounts with Gazprombank to pay for gas supplies from Russia

The company specified that it is interested in fulfilling its obligations to both the supplier and customers

ROME, May 17. /TASS/. The Italian energy company Eni has begun the process for opening accounts with Gazprombank without changing current contracts, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

"As deadlines for the payment of gas supplies are scheduled for the next few days, Eni ("the Company") has begun the process of opening two K current accounts at Gazprom Bank, on a precautionary basis (one in euros and the second in rubles)," according to the statement.

"This follows Gazprom Export’s unilateral request to amend the existing contracts between the parties in accordance with the new gas payment procedure established by the Russian Federation. While Eni has rejected those amendments, the Company is going to temporarily open the two accounts without prejudice to its contractual rights, which still envisage payment in euros," the company specified.

According to the statement, Gazprom Export and the relevant Russian federal authorities have confirmed that invoicing and payment will continue to take place in euros (recent invoices actually been made in euros, the contractually agreed currency).

"A clearing point agent operating at the Moscow Stock Exchange will carry out the conversion into rubles within 48 hours without any involvement of the Central Bank of Russia," the company said.

"In the event of any delays or technical inability to complete the conversion on time, there will be no impact on supplies," the company added.

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The company also indicated that at the moment there are not any European regulations aimed at preventing the above-mentioned operations. Eni is interested in fulfilling its obligations to both the supplier and customers.

Eni, in the absence of complete, exhaustive and contractually grounded responses by Gazprom Export, reserves the right to start "an international arbitration based on Swedish law (in accordance with the current contracts) to resolve the uncertainty regarding the changes introduced by the new payment procedure and the correct allocation of costs and risks."

Eni also strongly reaffirms its intention "to comply with any possible future regulatory provision that may sanction gas trading or its current counterparties."

On March 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree that lays out a new procedure for paying for gas supplies by buyers from unfriendly countries. From April 1, such states must transfer funds in foreign currencies to Gazprombank, which will buy rubles on exchanges and transfer them to special ruble accounts of importers. Russia will continue to supply gas in volumes and at prices fixed in earlier contracts.

EU officials said that opening ruble accounts would violate sanctions. However, in accordance with the latest instructions, Brussels decided to abandon the ban on ruble accounts and offer companies a roadmap to continue buying Russian gas.

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