Pressure on Europe to secure alternative gas supplies has increased as Moscow imposed sanctions on European subsidiaries of state-owned Gazprom a day after Ukraine stopped a major gas transit route.
Gas prices surged, with the key European benchmark gaining 12% as buyers were unsettled by the mounting threats to Europe's supply given its high dependence on Russia, Reuters reported.
Moscow has already cut off supply to Bulgaria and Poland and countries are racing to fill dwindling gas reserves before winter.
Russia imposed sanctions mainly on Gazprom's European subsidiaries including Gazprom Germania, an energy trading, storage and transmission business that Germany placed under trusteeship last month to secure supplies.
It also placed sanctions on the owner of the Polish part of the Yamal-Europe pipeline that carries Russian gas to Europe.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said there can be no relations with the companies affected nor can they take part in supplying Russian gas.
The affected entities, listed on a Russian government website, are largely based in countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, most of them members of the European Union.
"Gazprom and its subsidiaries are affected," German Economy Minister Robert Habeck told the Bundestag lower house. "This means some of the subsidiaries are getting no more gas from Russia. But the market is offering alternatives."
The list also includes Germany's biggest gas storage facility at Rehden in Lower Saxony, with 4 Bcm3 of capacity and operated by Astora, as well as Wingas, a trader which supplies industry and local utilities.
Pressure on European gas supplies grows
