Austria prepared: will there be gas chaos? “Honestly found”

“The import of Russian gas via Ukraine and Slovakia to Baumgarten can be completely replaced by imports via Germany and Italy,” Haber told journalists in Vienna on Monday evening.

“This scenario of someone freezing to death in Europe does not exist,” stressed the head of E-Control’s gas department, Carola Millgramm. Such considerations are “far-fetched”.

The gas market is liquid, gas storage facilities are well stocked and European safety measures have been taken after the first gas crisis in 2009. There is also the European regulation on security of supply with solidarity mechanisms for protected customers.

Gas consumption has been reduced by a fifth
The necessary transport capacity for importing non-Russian gas is now also available, Haber said. “As of October 1, the import capacity via Italy has been increased to 95 terawatt hours per year. In Germany the import capacity is 90 terawatt hours.”

For comparison: in 2021 Austrian gas consumption was 96 TWh, in 2023 only 75.64 TWh. “This corresponds to a reduction in gas consumption of approximately 21.4 percent,” says Haber. This year too, consumption in Austria will be around 75 TWh. Total consumption in Europe is 3600 TWh per year.

Where do new supplies come from?
Above all, Norwegian pipeline gas and American LNG would come via Germany. In the Italian gas market, Algerian gas and LNG supplies via pipelines are the main sources. For Austria, important LNG terminals are located in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, as well as in northern Italy. In Belgium and Italy, this mainly concerns gas from Qatar. According to E-Control, the US LNG share is about 20 percent in Belgium and about 40 percent in Italy.

From 2027, the import route via Germany will also be strengthened with the WAG loop extension, which will increase import capacity from Germany to 117 TWh per year, Haber said. In addition, Austria has built up a strategic gas reserve of 20 TWh and spent almost four billion euros on it. The obligation to maintain this state reserve has been extended by the National Council until April 1, 2026.

Anger over false news
According to Haber, a total of around 92 TWh of gas is stored in the Austrian gas storage facilities and the storage facilities are 90 percent full. However, recently there have been “false reports” that only a small part of the gas in the storage facilities would be available for the Austrian market, the energy regulator said angrily.

Of the 92 TWh stored, approximately 33 TWh is reserved for Austrian end customers, and another 16 TWh will “most likely” remain on the Austrian gas market. Part of the storage capacities are used by foreign – often German – storage customers. “They also have the option to trade the quantities on the virtual trading platform in Austria – including via the exchange – and make them available to Austrian gas customers. The key issue as to whether they do this is the price difference on the wholesale markets.”

There is a back door through Ukraine
It is still unclear whether the expiration of the gas transit contract between Ukraine and Russia will change anything at all. The Ukrainian pipeline operator could offer transportation capabilities to traders who buy Russian gas through a booking platform, Millgramm explained. Whether anyone has secured capacity will probably only become apparent shortly before New Year’s Eve.

“We certainly don’t know.” Further uncertainty for gas flows arises from the US sanctions against Russia’s Gazprombank, which will come into effect from December 20, which will affect payments between Gazprom Export and its trading partners in Europe and the EU. incorporated.

According to E-Control, the increase in wholesale prices in recent weeks will initially only have a “marginal” impact on household prices, as purchasing has already taken place and the majority of household customers have fixed-price contracts.