“Energy as a weapon”
The Austrian gas group OMV, which imported Russian gas from Gazprom, indicated this Friday, November 15 that deliveries would stop tomorrow. The Austrian government assures that its country was prepared for this.
Russia will stop supplying gas to Austria from Saturday, announced the Austrian oil and gas group OMV, the result of a dispute with the Russian giant Gazprom. “We have been informed” by Gazprom that deliveries were going to be interrupted on Saturday, a spokesperson told AFP this Friday, November 15.
This decision thus puts an end to nearly six decades of dependence on the Alpine country, which still imported 90% of its gas from Russia this summer, notably via Ukraine. “Russia is once again using energy as a weapon,” reacted on X the Austrian Minister of the Environment and Energy, Leonore Gewessler. But Austria, long dependent on Russian gas, “has been preparing for this situation for a long time”, she added, thanks to a supply “insured” by stocks “full” and the capacity offered by gas pipelines from Italy and neighboring Germany.
The first Western company to sign a delivery contract with the Soviet Union in 1968, OMV has multiplied its sources of supply since the start of the conflict in Ukraine. This decision by Gazprom was taken in reaction to Wednesday's announcement by OMV of an arbitration judgment giving it the right to claim 230 million euros in compensation for past supply problems.
After the invasion of Ukraine by Moscow's troops, OMV was affected in 2022 by the reduction and then the total end of deliveries of Russian gas to Germany, via the Nord Stream gas pipeline. The company, almost a third owned by the Austrian state, said “expect a deterioration in your contractual relationship” with Gazprom Export, “including a potential interruption of gas supply”.
