Gazprom Worried over Possible Delay in Payment from SE Europe

Russian energy giant Gazprom believes Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia might put off payment for gas, oil and other kinds of fuels or not pay at all, Russian newspaper Vedomosti reports.

The daily cites documents prepared by Gazprom on the occasion of forthcoming Eurobonds issuance.  

Vedomosti points out that such a risk has not been singled out in the 2013 materials issued by the Russian company ahead of the launching of new Eurobonds.

"Most European customers of Gazprom have high credit ratings, but there are countries in Southern Europe which might hold payments for gas, oil and petroproducts or not pay for an entire volume of supplies," the paper reports Gazprom as saying.  

Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Macedonia account for 4 percent of Gazprom's exports to Europe, Vedomosti says, or 5.8 billion cubic meters out of the total 158 billion that were pumped into European countries last year.

Gazprom has not reported so far that either Bulgaria or Greece have failed to make payments on time.

However, Vedomosti suggests that, in the case of Greece, the claim might be linked to demands by state-owned gas company DEPA, reported by Kathimerini in December, that gas pricing conditions with Gazprom should be changed.