The US has imposed sanctions on Gazprombank - the last major Russian bank still linked to the international payment system SWIFT - which handles energy-related transactions.
New US sanctions on Gazprombank are expected to spike energy costs in some parts of Europe, Finam Financial Group analyst Aleksandr Potavin told TASS on November 22. He predicted that the risk of secondary restrictions will force Russian oil and gas buyers to seek new payment instruments.
On November 21, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on more than 50 Russian lenders, including Gazprombank and six of its foreign subsidiaries.
The new sanctions have cut one of Russia's largest banks off the SWIFT system, meaning it can no longer conduct transactions in USD. Gazprombank's assets in the US have also been frozen.
Due to the new sanctions on Gazprombank, buyers of Russian gas and Russian oil abroad will have to seek alternative payment methods that could complicate the entire process, increase risks and make payment procedures more expensive, Potavin said.
He pointed out that European buyers can use accounts at other banks or pay for energy supplies through other currencies around the world as an alternative.
The new sanctions will lead to increased prices of Russian oil and gas in Europe and the possibility of supply disruption cannot be ruled out because all of these create new risks for foreign companies cooperating with Russia, he explained.
The latest restrictions will not directly affect Russian gas buyers who have previously agreed to pay for gas in rubles, according to Alexander Frolov, an expert at the InfoTek energy news center. He said they will only apply to individuals and corporations under US control.
However, the analyst acknowledged that companies using rubles to buy Russian energy are at risk of secondary sanctions, "Therefore, gas buyers from Europe need to go to the US Treasury Department for clarification."
Russian pipeline gas supplies to Europe have fallen significantly due to Ukraine-related restrictions and the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline, although EU countries are still importing record volumes of LNG from Moscow.
Despite the announcement that it will stop buying Russian energy, the EU is still one of the largest buyers of Russian fossil fuels in the world.
In August, pipeline gas accounted for the largest proportion of EU fossil fuel purchases from Russia (54%), followed by LNG (25%) - according to the Clean Energy and Air Research Center (CREA).
