Published: Less than 10 min ago
A ship with Russian fossil gas arrived at Nynäshamn on Thursday morning. The customer of the delivery, which came with the vessel “Coral Energy”, is the state-owned Finnish gas supplier Gasum.
EU sanctions have halted imports of coal and oil so as not to finance Putin’s war of aggression. But the import of gas is still allowed, even though it is one of Russia’s main sources of income.
The ship that arrived at Nynäshamn on Thursday was loaded with liquefied fossil gas, LNG, from Russia.
– The reason why we still buy it is that we have a long-term contract for the deliveries, says Olga Väisänen, deputy communications and sustainability manager at Gasum, to TT.
“Something we have to follow”
The agreement is a so-called take-or-pay agreement with Gazprom Export, which means that the buyer either takes a delivery of the product or not but pays for it in any event.
– It is a contract that we must follow, there are no legal ways to get out of it, says Olga Väisänen.
The agreement is valid for several years to come. However, Väisänen says that the company is following the situation and that it will always follow sanctions that are imposed regarding Russian gas.
– We have not made any new contracts and will not make any new contracts to buy more, says Olga Väisänen.
The same ship also arrived at Nynäshamn with Russian gas on February 24, the anniversary of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Even then, the client was Gasum.
Sweden is waiting for the EU
Liquefied natural gas is not covered by the EU’s sanctions package. EU Minister Jessica Roswall (M) still thinks that the EU has been successful in hammering out ten sanctions packages against Russia.
– The sanctions package includes a lot, but not everything. It’s about them hitting the Russian military capability right, and now work is being done on the next sanctions package, of course. But precisely when it comes to gas, it has not been possible to reach an agreement.
TT: Do you think liquefied gas should be sanctioned?
– Sweden has long pushed and we would like to see that it was part of the sanctions regime.
However, she does not want Sweden to proceed on its own.
– I think that if you want to be successful when it comes to sanctions, then you do it together. And for us it is together with the EU, that is how we show strength and get the effect of sanctions, says Roswall.