Italy Sees Russian Gas to Keep Flowing as Ruble Accounts Opened
Chiara Albanese and Alberto Brambilla, Bloomberg News
A customer fills up with unleaded petrol at a gas station in Rome, Italy, on Wednesday, March 9, 2022. Gasoline prices are surging across Europe with the war in Ukraine and threats to expand sanctions to energy raising questions about whether Russian supplies will keep flowing to market. Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg , Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) -- Italy is confident that Russian gas will continue to flow in coming weeks because importers are starting to pay in rubles amid a lack of clarity over whether doing so breaches European Union sanctions.
“There is no official pronouncement of what it means to breach sanctions,” Prime Minister Mario Draghi said during a press conference on Wednesday. “Nobody said anything on whether rubles payment breach sanctions, how these payments are organized, there is such a great gray zone here.”
“As a matter of fact, most of the gas importers have already opened their account in rubles with Gazprom,” he added.
Governments across Europe want the EU to provide detailed guidance on what companies can and can’t do under sanctions rules to address Russia’s demands for gas payments in rubles.
The next tranche of funds is due to be transferred later this month, and there’s increasing concern that failure to meet Vladimir Putin’s terms could prompt Moscow to cut off supplies to more countries.