In January, almost half of gas imports came from Russia: according to current figures from the Energy Dashboard of the Ministry of Climate, Austria’s share of Russian natural gas was 47 percent. In December, Russia’s share was 71 percent. From May to October 2022, dependence gradually fell from over 70 percent to just under 20 percent.
The data comes from the Association of European Transmission System Operators (ENTSO-G) and the Austrian energy regulatory agency E-Control. However, the given ratios should be treated with caution. E-Control estimates this by combining data from the gas transfer points at the borders with figures that E-Control receives from market monitoring. However, because participants in the gas market are not obliged to state the exact origin of the gas during monitoring, inaccuracies may arise.
Gozprom yielded more again after throttling in the summer
The reasons for the increase in November and December are lower imports from Germany and Italy, while at the same time relatively constant gas flows from Russia. Gazprom had severely limited gas supply volumes to OMV arriving at Baumgarten in Lower Austria this summer, but recently delivered more.
According to documents from the Ministry of Climate, Austria imported more than a third more gas in January than in December. As a result, imports from other sources in particular increased, while Russia’s share fell slightly in absolute terms.
NEOS: ‘Are geopolitical ghost drivers in Europe’
For the director of the NEOS Lab, Lukas Sustala, Austria has taken a special path in the EU. “With its significant gas imports, Austria is one of the last Western buyers of Russian gas. This will make us a geopolitical wrong-way driver in Europe,” says Sustala.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
