It is possible that Gazprom will interrupt gas supplies to Austria. This is what we read in an “urgent message” to the market from Omv, the main Austrian operator in the world of gas and oil.
According to what the company explains in the message, “a foreign court decision obtained by a large European energy company”, if it were to be applied in Austria against the subsidiary Omv Gas Marketing & Trading (Ogmt), would order Omv to “make the payments provided for in its gas supply contract with Gazprom Export” to the European energy company, and not to the Russian giant.
The Austrian operator “does not currently know if and when” the provision should be implemented, and in the event of implementation Omv “considers it probable that Gazprom Export will interrupt the supply of Gas pursuant to the supply contract with Ogmt, with consequent repercussions on the Austrian market of the gas. This assessment is based on the behavior of Gazprom Export in similar situations.”
In a similar context, the subsidiary Ogmt “would still be able to supply its contractual customers with gas from alternative non-Russian sources, thanks to the extensive diversification efforts made in recent years”.
Omv sources natural gas from its own production plants in Norway and Austria, as well as from international natural gas producers. It also has long-term LNG supply contracts, which is imported into Europe via OMV’s LNG regasification capabilities at the Gate Terminal in Rotterdam” and participates “as a potential buyer in the EU Joint Gas Purchasing Platform auctions (‘Eu Energy Platform’). Finally, Omv explains that it has “access to all the main gas trading and capacity markets in central and north-western Europe and has the relevant transport capacities”.
