Ørsted has received no word from the company’s Russian natural gas supplier Gazprom following Russian President Vladimir Putin putting his name on a decree which stipulates that Western customers must pay for gas in rubles through accounts set up in Russian banks.

The decree came into force on Friday, but there is still a great deal of uncertainty as to what it means in practice.

”Despite the reports that have come from Putin, we have received no communication from Gazprom. Accordingly, we are still unsure what the statement will mean for the contract and supply of gas from Russia to Danish and European households and companies,” notes Ørsted to Danish media MarketWire on Friday.

”Naturally, we are, of course, closely monitoring the situation. Ørsted fully supports Denmark and the EU’s objective to become independent of Russian gas,” the Danish utility writes.

Overall, there is much confusion concerning the Russian demand, which has also been interpreted in a great variety of ways since being announced by Russian state media on Thursday.

On Thursday – prior to the announcement of the demand – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reported that German companies can still pay for gas using euros. Similarly, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi remarked that he had received assurances from Russia that European countries could continue to pay in euros.

The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated Friday that Denmark disapproves of the Russian demand, writes Danish business media Børsen.

In an email to Børsen, the ministry writes that it is ”not yet clear what the Russian decree will mean in concrete terms. But Denmark denounces Russia’s attempt to single-handedly change existing contractual terms.”

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