Gazprom stopped gas supplies to Austria on Saturday. Since then, trading on the exchange has increased significantly. Local company OMV has also increased its purchases there, industry officials say. Some of the gas will probably come from Gazprom via this detour.
This would allow the Russian company to profitably sell its natural gas to the Austrian population despite the legal disputes with OMV. It is impossible to understand where the gas purchased on the stock exchange comes from, says Christoph Dolna-Gruber of E-Control. However, OMV has no choice but to buy on the stock exchange in order to meet its delivery obligations in the short term.
According to preliminary data from Slovak transmission system operator Eustream, 22.3 million cubic meters of gas deliveries via Slovakia to Austria were planned for Monday. Before the supply freeze, OMV had received 17 million cubic meters per day from Gazprom.
The quantity of gas supplied has developed since November 11.
Who still gets gas from Gazprom?
In total, the Russian company exports around 42.4 million cubic meters of gas to Europe every day. Replacements were quickly found for the quantities that no longer went to OMV, partly through new customers and intermediaries. Insiders reasoned that Russian gas was significantly cheaper than that from other sources. For example, it is sold to Slovakia and Hungary, but also to the Czech Republic, which has no direct contract. Smaller quantities also go to Italy and Serbia.
The agreement ends at the end of the year
The supply stop is the result of a legal dispute between OMV and Gazprom. An arbitral tribunal awarded OMV damages of 230 million euros. The Austrian energy company therefore announced that it would offset the damage on Russian gas supplies. The current bill for October may no longer be paid.
But from the end of this year there will probably be no more gas deliveries from Russia anyway. Then the Russian gas transit agreement with Ukraine, which was concluded for five years, will expire.
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.
