Finland’s gas supply cut off by Gazprom after NATO bid

Russia yesterday halted gas exports to neighboring Finland, a highly symbolic move that came just days after the Nordic country announced it would join NATO and marked a likely end to Finland’s nearly 50-year history of importing natural gas from Russia.

The move by Russian energy giant Gazprom came in line with an earlier announcement after Helsinki refused to pay for the gas in rubles — as Russian President Vladimir Putin has been asking European countries to do since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 Has.

Finland’s state-owned gas company, Gasum, announced at 7 a.m. local time yesterday that “natural gas supplies to Finland under the Gasum supply agreement have been suspended”.

The announcement follows Moscow’s decision to halt electricity exports to Finland earlier this month and an earlier decision by state-controlled Finnish oil company Neste to replace imports of Russian crude with crude from other countries.

After decades of energy cooperation seen as beneficial to both Helsinki – particularly in the case of cheap Russian crude – and Moscow, Finland’s energy ties with Russia have all but disappeared.

Such a break was easier for Finland than for other EU countries. Natural gas accounts for just 5 percent of total energy consumption in Finland, a country of 5.5 million people.

Almost all gas comes from Russia and is mainly used by industry, with only an estimated 4,000 homes relying on gas heating.

Gasum said it will now supply natural gas to its customers via the Balticconnector subsea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia.