Ex-OMV boss Roiss: – Fill gas storage with billions from OMV and Verbund

There are many suggestions on how Austria could overcome the current energy crisis, one coming from ex-OMV General Gerhard Roiss and being taken very seriously by politicians. Instead of taxing the “excess profits” at the corporations, Roiss aims for a win-win situation: “Both the association and OMV have an extra profit of about a billion euros due to the high gas prices – this money must be used to fill the gas storage facilities for Austria.” In an interview with Georg Wailand, deputy editor of Krone, Roiss reveals his plan.

To put it plainly: the federal state of Austria has recently increased the gas storage with a monthly consumption by about one billion euros. Roiss: “If one billion euros each flows from Verbund and OMV into the filling of the gas storage, we would have a much higher certainty with three months’ supply than today, if people tremble every day before the measures from Russia.” one company to be set up has to handle this.

But what if the gas price falls again? Then Verbund and OMV would have to bear a significant loss? Roiss: “That is a valid suggestion. Now they have the so-called windfall profit, ie an extra profit without extra achievements, then they would have a windfall, but they can certainly deal with that because they are earning brilliantly now. You can also call it profit recycling.”

“That would generate billions in benefits”
He also has a suggestion for the price: “If you save ten percent compared to the previous year, you will receive another ten percent credit as a reward. Anyone who saves 20 percent, but 20 percent, and so on.” This should apply to both households and businesses. Roiss: “That would generate billions in benefits. In principle, many will be able to save ten to fifteen percent on gas without special efforts. But if you take special measures, you get a correspondingly bigger bonus.”

In the long term, Austria should position itself for the hydrogen era: “Now we have Norway as an alternative, but in the coming years we need to set course for an energy strategy. For example for the production of green hydrogen in North Africa: the few solar systems in Austria are for the allotment garden. We need completely different quantities.” How do you ensure that Austria has internationally competitive energy prices? “The price of gas will probably fall sharply again in a year or two, what happens then?”