Russia turns gas off: Gazprom suspending gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria | What is the Yamal pipeline?

Officials in Poland and Bulgaria say Russia is suspending their countries’ natural gas deliveries starting on Wednesday.

The governments of the two European countries said that Russian energy giant Gazprom informed them it was halting gas supplies.

Here’s everything you need to know.

Gazprom suspends gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland

The suspensions would be the first since Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that “unfriendly” foreign buyers would have to pay the state-owned Gazprom in roubles instead of other currencies.

Europe imports large amounts of Russian natural gas to heat homes, generate electricity and fuel industry. The imports have continued despite the war in Ukraine.

Around 60% of imports are paid in euros, and the rest in dollars. Mr Putin’s demand was apparently intended to help bolster the Russian currency amid the war in Ukraine.

European leaders said they would not comply, arguing the requirement for them to purchase roubles and then pay Gazprom violated the terms of contracts and their sanctions against Russia.

Russian invasion of Ukraine. See story POLITICS Ukraine. Infographic PA Graphics.

“The Russian proposal for a two-step payment procedure is in violation with the current contract and bears considerable risks for Bulgaria, including to make payments without receiving any gas deliveries from Russia,” the Bulgarian government said.

Russia's top lawmaker said on that gas giant Gazprom had made the right decision in suspending gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland and said Moscow should do the same with other "unfriendly" countries.

The gas cut-off came after Russian President Vladimir Putin said that “unfriendly” countries would need to start paying for gas in roubles, Russia’s currency, which Bulgaria and Poland refused to do.

Russian energy giant Gazprom said in a statement that it had not received any payments from Poland and Bulgaria since April 1 and was suspending their deliveries starting on Wednesday.

If the countries siphon off gas intended for other European customers, deliveries to Europe will be reduced by that amount, the company said.

Gazprom is majority-owned by the Russian government.

Russian gas being used as a political weapon - Bulgaria

Bulgaria said it was working with state gas companies to find alternative sources. The government said no restrictions on domestic gas consumption would be imposed for now even though the Balkan country of 6.5 million meets over 90% of its gas needs with Russian imports.

Bulgaria says it has paid for its April gas deliveries in full already and has accused Gazprom of breaching its contract.

"At the moment, the natural gas is being used more as a political and economic weapon in the current war," Bulgaria's energy minister Alexander Nikolov said.

He added that Bulgaria was following the EU's position which was for countries not to submit to Russian demands to start paying for gas in roubles.

Poland a key transit point for Russian gas

Poland has been receiving some nine billion cubic metres of Russian gas annually.

Russian gas made up some 45% of Poland’s overall gas usage until the cut-off.

But Poland is far more reliant on coal to heat homes and fuel industry, with gas making up around 7% of the country’s overall energy mix.

Poland’s state gas company, PGNiG, said it was notified by Gazprom that deliveries through the Yamal-Europe pipeline would stop on Wednesday.

Poland not only has refused to pay for natural gas in roubles, but the country has been a strong supporter of neighbouring Ukraine during the Russian invasion.

It is a transit point for weapons the United States and other Western nations have provided Ukraine.

The Polish government confirmed this week that it was sending tanks to Ukraine’s army. On Tuesday, it announced a sanctions list targeting 50 Russian oligarchs and companies, including Gazprom.

Polish Climate Minister Anna Moskwa stressed that Poland was prepared for such a situation after working for years to reduce its reliance on Russian energy sources.

She said the country has been effectively independent when it comes to Russian gas for some time.

“There will be no shortage of gas in Polish homes,” Ms Moskwa tweeted.

The minister repeated that message at a news conference, saying: “Appropriate diversification strategies that we have introduced allow us to feel on the safe side in this situation.”

Poland has been working since the 1990s to wean itself off of Russian energy and was already on track to end its reliance on Russian gas this year. It recently moved to stop imports of Russian coal.

The government in Warsaw has urged other European countries to lessen their dependence on Russian energy sources.

What is the Yamal pipeline?

The Yamal pipeline carries natural gas from Russia to Poland and Germany, through Belarus.

The Yamal–Europe pipeline is a natural gas distribution system running across four countries including Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany. The 4,107km-long pipeline has a diameter of 1,420mm and can carry 33 billion cubic metres a year. It transports natural gas from the Yamal peninsula to European consumers.

ostong $36bn, construction commenced in 1994 and the pipeline was fully commissioned in 2006.

PGNiG said that Russia’s demand to be paid in roubles represented a breach of the Yamal contract.

Flow charts published on the website of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas showed drastic drops of gas flows at entry points in Kondratki, a town in eastern Poland, and Vysokaye, which is in Belarus.

The Russian news agency Tass cited Gazprom as saying that Poland must pay for its gas supplies under a new procedure.

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European reaction

Polish and Bulgarian leaders have accused Moscow of using natural gas to blackmail their countries after Russia’s state-controlled energy company stopped supplying their countries with gas.

European Union leaders echoed those comments and were holding an emergency meeting on the Russian move.

The gas cut-off to Poland and Bulgaria came after Russian President Vladimir Putin said that “unfriendly” countries would need to start paying for gas in roubles, Russia’s currency, which Bulgaria and Poland refused to do.

Russian energy giant Gazprom said in a statement that it had not received any payments from Poland and Bulgaria since April 1 and was suspending their deliveries starting on Wednesday.

And if those countries siphon off Russian gas intended for other European customers, deliveries to Europe will be reduced by that amount, the gas company said.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the announcement by Gazprom “is yet another attempt by Russia to use gas as an instrument of blackmail”.

Europe is not without some leverage in the dispute; at current prices, it pays Russia 400 million dollars (£319 million) a day for gas, money Mr Putin would lose with a complete cut-off.

Fatih Birol, head of the Paris-based International Energy Agency, described Russia’s move as a “weaponisation of energy supplies”, adding that it “makes it clearer than ever that Europe needs to move quickly to reduce its reliance on Russian energy”.

The Greek government was holding its own emergency meeting on Wednesday in Athens.

Greece’s next scheduled payment to Gazprom is due on May 25, and the government must decide whether it will comply with the demand to pay in roubles.

Greece is ramping up its liquefied natural gas storage capacity, and has contingency plans to switch several industry sectors from gas to diesel as an emergency energy source.

It has also reversed a programme to reduce domestic coal production.

If European nations decide not to pay in roubles, Russia can in theory sell its oil elsewhere, such as to India and China, because oil primarily moves by ship

UK Government reaction

The UK has imported around £220 million worth of Russian oil since the Kremlin sent troops and tanks across the border into Ukraine in February.

Figures released on Wednesday show 1.9 million barrels of oil, or 257,000 tonnes, have been imported since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the latest stage of his eight-year occupation of Ukraine.

Russia's decision to cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria is only isolating it further on the international stage, British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has said.

"It will have a very damaging effect on Russia as well because it is becoming further and further, more and more, not just a political pariah, but an economic pariah," he told Sky News.

The UK have vowed to try and phase out Russian oil with a Government spokesman saying: “We will phase out Russian oil by the end of the year, and imports of Russian liquid natural gas as soon as possible thereafter.

“The UK has no issues with either gas or oil supply, and unlike Europe we are not dependent on Russian energy imports.”