Uniper pays for Russian gas in euros via an account with Gazprombank

DÜSSELDORF (dpa-AFX) – Germany’s largest importer of Russian natural gas, Uniper, assumes that it will be able to settle invoices for Russian natural gas that are due at the end of May in accordance with EU sanctions. Uniper receives the bill in euros, said a spokesman for the energy company on Tuesday at the request of the German press agency dpa. “And we pay in euros to a Gazprombank account in accordance with the new payment mechanism. This ensures timely performance of the contract on our part.” We are in close contact with the federal government on this procedure.

Uniper CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (FAZ) at the end of April that the company was preparing to pay using the “two-account solution”. “That means we continue to pay in euros and an immediate conversion into rubles takes place, orchestrated by Gazprombank. The Russians then say that we paid in rubles and we’ll have to live with that.”

At the end of March, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin demanded that Western countries open accounts with Gazprombank in Russia effective April 1 in order to pay for Russian gas. Otherwise, deliveries for the “unfriendly” countries would be stopped. According to a decree signed by Putin, payments can still be deposited into the Russian account in euros or dollars. Gazprombank converts the money into rubles and transfers the amount in Russian currency to GAZPROM. If the payments were not made, deliveries would be stopped, Putin had threatened. Russia had stopped gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria after the two countries failed to agree to the new payment system.

The President of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, commented in an interview published Tuesday with “FAZ” on the question of how Gazprom’s bills will now be settled. “We’ll see if the payments work.” Germany agrees with the model of the so-called K-accounts, and the EU also considers them to be compliant with sanctions. “The procedure makes it possible to meet the Russian conditions and the sanctions in equal measure. So, as I understand it, there would be a viable way to pay for Russian gas as long as we haven’t made ourselves independent of it.”/tob/DP/stw