Austria still gets a large part of its gas from Russia

– International news – Tasnim News Agency According to the German newspaper “Hamburger Abend Blatt”, in the second year of Russia’s war against Ukraine, Austria is still a large part of the gas It supplies itself from Russia. According to the data of the Austrian energy regulator E-Control, Russia’s share of natural gas imports this year is on average 60%.

In September this number was even 80% and almost the same as the beginning. It was a war. Walter Boltz, the former head of E-Control, and Gerhard Reuss, the former head of the energy company OMV, recently warned about the lack of preparation for the possible failure of the energy delivery process from Russia.

Boltz told the German news agency that this It leads to high prices. Boltz, who works with Reuss as an adviser to the Energy Ministry in Vienna, said that although Austria has stored enough reserves for such an emergency, gas will continue to become more expensive because pipeline capacity is limited on the alternative route from Germany to Austria. . Experts criticized the fact that pipeline operator Gas Connect Austria (GCA) does not actively promote the development of gas pipelines from Germany. GCA president Stefan Wagenhofer said in a radio interview: “At the moment, large quantities are still coming from Russia.”

Thus Austria has not yet given up Russian gas because the current supply contract still runs until 2040. It is valid. The Austrian state-owned company did not want to answer whether OMV, as Gazprom’s contractual partner, had ever tried to negotiate an exit. Guaranteed stop delivery. On the other hand, most regional energy suppliers are still heavily dependent on Russia. “I get the impression that companies are burying their heads in the dirt and hoping things don’t get this bad,” Boltz said.

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