Austria to get more Russian gas under new Gazprom, OMV deal

Russian gas giant Gazprom will increase its contracted gas supplies to Austria as part of a new deal it signed with OMV.

Rainer Seele and Alexey Miller (Image courtesy of Gazprom)

To remind, Gazprom and OMV in June this year extended their long-term gas supply contract to 2040 from 2028.

Under the newest deal signed on Monday by Gazprom’s Alexey Miller and OMV’s Rainer Seele, “gas deliveries to Austria will be increased by 1 billion cubic meters per year beyond the contractual amount for the entire contract period,” Gazprom said in a statement.

“Over the past few years, Gazprom has been setting new records for exports to Austria. In the first ten months of 2018 alone, gas supplies to the country have grown by a third compared to the same period of 2017, reaching 8.8 billion cubic meters,” Miller said in the statement.

According to OMV’s Seele, Europe’s demand for gas will rise primarily as the result of gas-fired power plants successively replacing coal, coupled with the simultaneous decrease in European production.

“By increasing gas supplies to Baumgarten in Lower Austria, we are making an additional contribution to security of supply in Austria – as well as to other European countries,” he added.