Russia's state-controlled natural gas giant Gazprom said it cut supplies to NATO members Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday after they refused to pay for the shipments in rubles. Poland has been a major gateway for the delivery of weapons to Ukraine and confirmed this week that it is sending the country tanks.
Gazprom in a statement warned that if Poland and Bulgaria siphon gas intended for other European customers, the deliveries to Europe will be reduced to that amount.
European gas prices have spiked by as much as 24 per cent on the news. Benchmark Dutch futures traded at one point around 125 euros per megawatt hour. Fatih Birol, the executive director of the Paris-based International Energy Agency, tweeted Wednesday morning that his organization "stands firmly with Poland."
"Gazprom's move to completely shut off gas supplies to Poland is yet another sign of Russia's politicisation of existing agreements & will only accelerate European efforts to move away from Russian energy supplies," he wrote. Poland said it was well-prepared after working for years to reduce its reliance on Russian energy. Poland also has ample natural gas in storage, and it will soon benefit from two pipelines coming online, analyst Emily McClain of Rystad Energy said.