(Montel) Russian energy giant Gazprom should continue supplying gas to Austria through an intermediary until the end of the year, provided payments are maintained, Walter Boltz, former head of the Austrian regulator, said. E-Control, in Montel on Monday.
“Gazprom wants to continue to monetize its gas as long as it can,” said Mr. Boltz, who is now a consultant for the international law firm Baker McKenzie.
Austrian oil and gas company OMV announced last week that its gas supply to Gazprom could end earlier than expected, after an arbitration court ruled requiring Gazprom Export to pay it EUR 230 million in damages. . OMV intended to use this compensation to offset the cost of new gas deliveries.
Russian gas flows transiting Ukraine to Europe remained stable on Sunday, despite an announcement from Gazprom on Friday evening that supplies to Austria would be suspended from the weekend.
The Austrian transit point Baumgarten recorded a drop in gas flows of around 17% from Friday to Sunday, from 295 GWh (26.6 million cubic meters) to 242 GWh. Around 238 GWh were nominated for Monday.
“According to our information, deliveries to OMV have been suspended. But the same volume of gas is available on the market and is being purchased,” said Alfons Haber, director of E-Control, at Montel.
The timing of the announcement of Gazprom’s decision was surprising, given that a payment deadline of the 20th of the month had not yet arrived, Haber explained. Austria remains well supplied, he added.
Under Russian law, Gazprom is no longer allowed to sell gas to OMV, Boltz said. The company’s likely use of an intermediary would allow sales to continue for a few weeks, he added, stressing that a sudden halt to flows was difficult due to technical constraints.
“If Gazprom has sufficient revenue, the company could operate this way until the end of the year and see what happens with transit,” Mr. Boltz added while adding that he does not rule out not that Gazprom “simply decides to reduce its deliveries if prices fall too low. »
Gazprom’s current transit agreement with Ukraine for gas deliveries to Europe is due to expire at the end of the year. Rumors about a potential replacement of supplies by Azerbaijan have led to a fall in gas prices in Europe in recent months.
Russia shipped about 15 billion cubic meters of gas through Ukraine to Europe last year, according to data from the association of network operators, Entso-g, or about half of its remaining deliveries to Europe.
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