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BERLIN — Gas supply contracts are denominated in euros or dollars and the energy industry assumes that this will continue to apply despite the latest communications from Russia, the German energy industry association said on Thursday.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday it would work on a gradual shift to gas payments in roubles, but President Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday he had signed a decree to halt contracts if payments were not made in roubles from April 1.
The German Association of Energy and Water Industries shares Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s view that the procedures need to be described in great detail before taking further decisions, association head Kerstin Andreae said.
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She also said Germany must maintain a unified stance with other EU and G7 countries, and the industry will act in close coordination with the government.
“The new, short term and vague reports from Moscow on how gas supplies are to be paid for confirm that the German economy ministry’s declaration of an early warning stage in the gas emergency plan was the right one,” Andreae said.
She added there are no supply shortages at the moment but the German government and the energy industry are preparing a detailed plan for the event of a supply disruption.
(Reporting by Tom Kaeckenhoff; Writing by Zuzanna Szymanska; editing by Barbara Lewis)
financialpost.com