Finnish state-owned energy firm, Gasum, said it had terminated its long-term pipeline natural gas supply contract with Russia’s Gazprom Export, a unit of Gazprom, while the LNG supply contract will remain in place.
In April, Gazprom Export sent Gasum a letter, requesting that going forward the payments agreed in the supply contract should be paid in rubles instead of euros. However, Gasum refused to pay in rubles.
After that, Gazprom ceased the pipeline natural gas deliveries to Gasum in May 2022 and there has not been any pipeline natural gas deliveries from Russia since then, the Finnish firm noted in a statement on Monday.
Gasum announced on May 17, 2022 it will take its dispute over ruble payments with a unit of Russia’s Gazprom to arbitration proceedings, and the arbitral tribunal issued an award in the matter in November the same year.
According to the award, Gasum was not obligated to pay in rubles nor through the proposed payment procedure.
Furthermore, the arbitral tribunal ordered Gasum and Gazprom Export to continue their bilateral contract negotiations to resolve the situation.
“The negotiations between Gasum and Gazprom Export have now ended. The parties were not able to resolve the situation within the period defined by the arbitral tribunal and therefore, Gasum has terminated the long-term natural gas supply contract with Gazprom Export on May 22, 2023,” the firm said in the statement.
The parties will continue to finalize the details of the contract termination, and Gasum will not comment on these details of the contract termination, it said.
“The termination concerns only the pipeline gas supply contract. The long-term LNG supply contract Gasum has with Gazprom Export remains in place,” Gasum said.
