Russian gas producer Gazprom said on Wednesday it had cut supplies to Denmark's Ørsted and Germany's Shell Energy Europe under its contract to supply Germany with gas after the two companies failed to make ruble payments.
Gazprom has already halted supplies to Dutch gas trading company Gazetera, as well as to Bulgaria, Poland and Finland after refusing to pay for gas in Russian rubles, as Moscow requested in response to Western sanctions imposed on it over the invasion of Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Gazprom said that the two mentioned companies had refrained from paying in rubles for Russian gas, and pointed out that the two companies should have paid in rubles as of April 1, but they did not pay.
Gazprom clarified that Shell Energy Europe had not paid the dues related to gas shipments to Germany.
German, Italian and French companies said they would take part in the Russian payment plan to ensure supplies are maintained.
The Federal Network Agency (Germany's network regulator) said on Wednesday that Shell Europe supplies only small quantities of gas supplies that can be replaced from other sources.
Gas continues to flow to Denmark via Germany
Meanwhile, data from "Energenit" (the operator of the Danish system) showed that the flow of natural gas to Denmark through Germany continued steadily today, Wednesday.
There is no direct gas pipeline from Russia to Denmark, and the Danish Energy Agency said buyers in the country have the option to purchase from sources other than Gazprom.
The Danish company, Orsted, had said that it would continue to pay for gas shipments from Russia in euros, and made it clear that Russia could not cut gas supplies to Denmark directly because there was no pipeline connecting the two countries directly.
For her part, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said - in a statement on the sidelines of an EU summit - "We support Ørsted in this decision," describing the Russian demand as "unacceptable."
Gas supplies through Ukraine, a major export route for Gazprom to Europe, continued, recording 41.2 million cubic meters on Wednesday, down slightly from yesterday.
Last March, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to cut off gas supplies from what he described as unfriendly countries if they refused to pay the ruble, in response to the sanctions imposed by these countries on Moscow over its war on Ukraine.