Gas Supply Contracts – Ex-OMV Boss: Government should know

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Russian gas supplies to Austria continue to cause discussions. While the government wants to completely stop supplying gas from Russia in 2027, OMV talks about long-term contracts. Chancellor Nehammer (ÖVP) does not want to know them at all, even though the republic, which owns more than 30 percent of OMV, is also on the group’s supervisory board.

According to OMV, the contracts would provide for the purchase of Russian gas until 2040. Austria’s dependence on Russian gas has recently increased again: in December, 70 percent of the gas – almost as much as before the war – came from Russia. Our neighboring country Germany, for example, which has not purchased Russian gas since October, shows that things can be done differently.

Nehammer doesn’t want to know the contract
According to the news channel Puls24, Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) points out that he is not aware of the contract between OMV and the Russian Gazprom. This is difficult for ex-OMV boss Gerhard Roiss to understand, he quotes in the Ö1 Morgenjournal. After all, the republic owns more than 30 percent of OMV through the holding company ÖBAG and is also represented on the group’s supervisory board.

A contract worth several billion euros and a term of more than ten years must be known to the supervisory board, says Roiss in the Morgenjournaal. “The chances of the board not addressing it are almost zero,” a person familiar with the situation told the APA.

It is unclear whether early retirement is possible
If the contracts were not available to ÖBAG, the “Morgenjournal” refers to a statement from ÖBAG. Roiss, on the other hand, expects “that with such contracts and with such risk dimensions, the supervisory board will request and submit the contract”.

However, OMV is not thinking about doing without Russian gas. The contracts would provide for purchase obligations. It therefore makes sense to use this gas, the Ö1 Morgenjournal referred to a written statement from OMV.

“You have to look the problem in the eye”
Former OMV boss Roiss sees the government as a duty: “You have to look the problem in the eye”. There is gas from Norway, LNG options via Rotterdam and Italy and own gas. However, the government must look the problem in the eye and look for solutions. But that would probably cost a lot more money than saying you don’t know the contracts, Roiss said.

Source: Krone

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