Finland prepared in case Russia cuts off gas, emergency committee says

Metsa Board Oyj

13/05/2022 12:33

HELSINKI, May 13 (Reuters) - Finland is ready to cope in the
event that Russia cuts off its supply of natural gas, the
government's emergency preparedness committee said after a
meeting on Friday.
    Key Finnish politicians had been warned of a possible halt
to gas exports by Russia on Friday, Finnish newspaper Iltalehti
reported on Thursday.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2X4248
    Defence Minister Antti Kaikkonen told reporters he could not
confirm the report while the Kremlin said the newspaper report
was "most likely a hoax" and reiterated that state-owned gas
company Gazprom  GAZP.MM  remained a reliable gas supplier.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2X50JL
    Gazprom did not reply to a Reuters request for a comment.
    State-owned Gasgrid Finland had no indication of any
disruption to gas flows on Friday, a spokesperson told Reuters.
    "Finland is prepared for a suspension of Russian natural gas
imports," the committee said in a statement.
    The country imports most of its gas from neighbouring Russia
but gas accounts for only about 5% of its annual energy
consumption.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2X34FS
    However, losing that gas supply would mean industry giants
like Neste  NESTE.HE  and Metsa  METSB.HE  and also other
companies in the forestry, chemical and food industries would
need to find alternative energy sources or adapt their
production.
    Finnish leaders on Thursday said the nation must apply to
join the NATO military alliance "without delay" in a historic
policy shift triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2X40BX
    Moscow said the move was a threat and warned it was ready to
respond.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2X442D
    Last week the government said it was prepared for the
possibility that Russia might cut off its gas supply in late May
as a response to Finland's refusal to abide by Russian demands
for payment in roubles.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2WX3X0
    Finland is also connected to the European gas network via
the BalticConnector, a Finnish-Estonian pipeline that connects
Finland with the Baltics which historically relied heavily on
Russian gas but have diversified their supply using liquefied
natural gas (LNG) import terminals and better connections with
western Europe.        


 (Reporting by Anne Kauranen; editing by Gwladys Fouche and
Jason Neely)
 ((anne.kauranen@thomsonreuters.com; +358401895560;))