On 31 May, Gazprom Export informed Ørsted that the company will halt the supply of gas to Ørsted on 1 June 2022 at 6:00 CEST. Thus, Gazprom Export will not live up to the agreement to supply gas to Ørsted. Gazprom Export has maintained its demand that Ørsted pay for gas supplies in roubles. Ørsted is under no obligation to do so under the contract, and the company reports it will continue to pay in euros.
Mads Nipper, Group President and CEO of Ørsted, says, “At Ørsted, we stand firm in our refusal to pay in roubles, and we’ve been preparing for this scenario, so we still expect to be able to supply gas to our customers. The situation underpins the need of the EU becoming independent of Russian gas by accelerating the build-out of renewable energy.”
Since there is no gas pipeline going directly from Russia to Denmark, Russia will not be able to directly cut off the gas supplies to Denmark, and it will thus still be possible for Denmark to obtain gas. However, this means that the gas for Denmark must, to a larger extent, be purchased on the European gas market, which Ørsted expects to be possible.
Ørsted is engaged in an ongoing dialogue with the Danish authorities, and trusts that the authorities, who have the overall overview of the supply situation in Denmark, are prepared for the situation. Ørsted plans to remain in close dialogue with the authorities regarding the situation.
