The chief executive of Austrian energy group OMV said the company will continue to buy most of its gas from Russia this winter, although it has secured back-up contracts that fully cover its import needs from other sources. According to Capital.bg magazine, quoted from Rador.

Alfred Stern said that 18 months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the company has no plans to abandon the long-term supply contract with Russia’s Gazprom signed in 2018. Russian gas is not subject to Western sanctions.

As long as “Gazprom” supplies… we will continue to take these volumes from “Gazprom”, Stern said in an interview with “Financial Times”.

Asked whether EU sanctions on Russian gas would be positive or negative for OMV, he said it was “for politicians to decide, let them decide”, but warned that “eliminating certain sources will also lead to higher prices”.

“We, as an industrial company, are obliged to ensure the use of these sources as long as they are legally acceptable,” he added.

Russian dependence

OMV, which is a regional energy leader with major companies in the oil and chemical sectors with revenues of 62 billion euros last year, has about 30% of the gas market in Austria.

The company, whose largest shareholder is the Austrian government, has been sharply criticized for its dependence on Russian energy. Last winter, the company sometimes paid the Kremlin more than 1 billion euros a month for Russian gas.

Eliminating the dependence of member countries on Russian energy carriers has become a key element of the EU’s response to Moscow’s aggression.

In June 2022, Brussels introduced a ban on the import of Russian oil. However, reducing the Kremlin’s emissions has proven more difficult, given its importance to the economies of many countries. Sanctions on gas imports were discussed in the EU, but no consensus could be reached.

While Germany and the Czech Republic have cut Russian gas imports to zero, Austria, like Hungary, has made almost no progress in reducing its dependence on Russian gas. Austrian Energy Minister Leonore Gewessler admitted last month that not enough was being done, calling on Austrian energy companies to make more concrete progress in cutting Russian gas imports.

However, Stern dismissed criticism that OMV was left out. He noted that OMV has already completed pipeline capacity contracts to transport all of its gas needs and has secured supplies from Norway as well as LNG terminals in the Netherlands.

“All of this has given us access to non-Russian gas, which is more than enough to cover our obligations to customers,” Stern said, pointing to the volatile nature of Russian supplies, which fluctuated significantly last year, fluctuating between 20% and 70% of a month’s supply. OMV gas imports.

In any case, the supply of Russian gas to Austria may be finally stopped next year due to the suspension of the current transport contract between Russia and Ukraine.

Gas from Romania

Stern also noted that OMV had just approved a €2 billion investment to bring the Neptun Deep gas field in the Black Sea into operation by 2027 in a joint venture with Romgaz of Romania. Implementation of the project will provide the European market with 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

“This will turn Romania into the largest natural gas producer in the EU, and OMV into one of the largest gas producers in Europe,” Stern said. “I believe this is a significant contribution to the security of European supplies.” Capital.bg (takeover by Rador)

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