Alfons Haber, board member of the gas and electricity regulatory agency E-Control, outlines the current situation of gas supply in Austria in the interview with krone.tv: “Russian gas continues to come to Austria. However, the buyer is no longer OMV, but this gas is sold to us via gas traders and on the stock exchange.
The state of the gas supply has changed drastically in recent times. LNG gas would come to Austria via pipelines from Italy, and also from the North Sea via pipelines from Germany.
Routes rotate completely
Haber: “The Austrian gas storage facilities are currently filled with ninety percent of the maximum quantity. That corresponds to an annual requirement.” However, the flow direction of gas from Italy, for example, has completely changed: “In the past, Russian gas, which flowed to Austria at the Baumgarten junction, was supplied further to Italy via pipelines. .”
“Today, countless LNG ships dock in Italian ports and the gas is then sent from Italy to Austria. But the situation has also changed in Germany: gas from the North Sea is now pumped to Austria and no Russian gas from Austria to Germany.”
Russia has lost gas supremacy
New compressor systems would also be used to increase the transmission speed in the pipelines. Conclusion: “Russia has lost its large gas market share in Europe. Now there is mainly LNG gas.” The total gas requirement in Europe is 3,600 terawatt hours, of which Austria needs 75 terawatt hours. (that’s only 2 percent of the total, note).
There are hundreds of LNG ships on the European market that sail to the newly built LNG ports. The transfer price would be lower during the summer. That is why the gas storage facilities are filled for the winter during this period and are currently 90 percent full. This brings security of supply.
Blackout risk low
In addition to the gas supply, a broad topic in the interview was the potential risk of power outages in Austria. Haber reassures: “A blackout is generally understood as a prolonged, large-scale power outage lasting several hours and days. There has never been anything like this in Austria. For us, these are just local events of a few minutes that can be quickly restored. “So you have to be careful when using the term ‘blackout’.”
In any case, according to E-Control, in addition to the gas sector, there is also security of electricity supply in Austria.
We explain what Austria is currently dealing with: the latest news conversations with politicians and experts.
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.
