Jul 30, 2022
Gazprom Halts Gas Supplies to Latvia, Citing Purchase Violations
, Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) --
The Russian gas producer Gazprom PJSC halted supplies to Latvia, saying the Baltic nation had “violated the conditions” of its purchases.
Flows were cut off on Saturday, Gazprom said in a statement on Telegram, without providing details.
On Friday, Latvian operator Latvijas Gaze said it would continue to purchase Russian gas through an intermediary. The company said it wouldn’t buying gas directly from Gazprom, and would paying in euros, not rubles.
Gazprom has been reducing deliveries to Europe in recent months. Customers, including Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, Denmark and Netherlands, were cut off after refusing to comply with Kremlin’s demand to pay in rubles for pipeline gas. Russia has also been sending less gas via Ukraine, and via the Nord Stream link to Germany, due to a spat with Siemens Energy AG over gas turbines.
In 2021, about 90% of the gas purchased by Latvia was from Russia, Kommersant says. In June, Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins said that his country don’t intend to continue the imports. It plans to ban Russian gas from 2023.
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