ZAGREB, 20 July 2022 - The European Commission on Wednesday proposed the Save Gas for a Safe Winter plan which envisages reducing gas demand by 15% between 1 August 2022 and 31 March 2023.

"The European Union faces the risk of further gas supply cuts from Russia, due to the Kremlin's weaponisation of gas exports, with almost half of our Member States already affected by reduced deliveries," the Commission said.

"Taking action now can reduce both the risk and the costs for Europe in case of further or full disruption, strengthening European energy resilience."

All consumers, public administrations, households, owners of public buildings, power suppliers and industry can and should take measures to save gas, the Commission said.

It is proposing a new Regulation on Coordinated Demand Reduction Measures for Gas, which would set a target for all member states to reduce gas demand by 15% between 1 August 2022 and 31 March 2023.

The Regulation would also give the Commission the possibility to declare, after consulting member states, a Union Alert on security of supply, imposing a mandatory gas demand reduction on all member states. "The Union Alert can be triggered when there is a substantial risk of a severe gas shortage or an exceptionally high gas demand."

The Commission urges all member states to launch public awareness campaigns to promote the reduction of heating and cooling on a broad scale. Member states could mandate a targeted lowering of heating and cooling in buildings operated by public authorities.  

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ZAGREB, 1 April (2022) - Croatian natural gas distributor PPD has so far not received a request from its Russian partner to make payments in roubles, the company told Hina on Friday.

"PPD has so far not received a request from out supplier, Gazprom Export, to change the contractual provisions. Deliveries are running smoothly and PPD is meeting all its obligations towards all its buyers," the company said.

PPD said that the security of supply was its "absolute priority" and that it was ensuring the security of supply thanks to all its suppliers. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he had signed a decree requiring foreign buyers to pay for Russian natural gas in roubles from 1 April.

Foreign buyers from countries deemed hostile would have to open a special account with Gazprombank, otherwise gas deliveries would be suspended.

"If such payments are not made, we will consider this a default on the part of buyers, with all the ensuing consequences. Nobody sells us anything for free, and we are not going to do charity either - that is, existing contracts will be stopped," the Russian president said.

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