OREANDA-NEWS. The Italian oil and gas group Eni will not pay for the supply of Russian gas in rubles, as it does not have the opportunity to do so, the head of the company, Claudio Descalzi, said at the Global Energy Forum in the UAE. According to him, cited by TASS, the Russian demand is not provided for by the contract, which specifies payments in euros, and cannot be put forward unilaterally. Future gas supplies may be in question.

There must be an agreement for such a change. Yes, now gas from Russia is supplied to Italy through the territory of Ukraine. But we are not sure about the supply in the future, to be honest, he concluded.

Earlier, Eni suspended the conclusion of new contracts for the supply of crude oil from Russia. The company intends to replace Russian oil with supplies from the international market. Previously concluded contracts remain in force.

In 2021, the company processed 18% of its crude oil from Russia, according to Eni. She now plans to compensate for these volumes with purchases on the international market.

The Italian company also announced its intention to sell its stake in the Blue Stream gas pipeline, which connects Russia and Turkey. The pipeline operator is Gazprom. The main shareholder of Eni is the Italian Treasury. The company purchases Russian energy resources on the basis of long-term contracts under the "take or pay" formula.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent an instruction to the government to give a directive to Gazprom to change the currency of payments for natural gas in existing contracts for rubles. According to the president, the changes will affect only the currency in which subsequent payments will be made.