Pak Sahafat – A senior energy official of Austria has said that the elimination of Russian natural gas will take years.
According to Pak Sahafat News Agency from Bloomberg, Federal Minister for Climate and Energy Leonor Güssler added that the Russia-Ukraine war has forced the Austrian people to face “sad facts” as the government seeks to oust Austria’s half-century-old dependence on Russia’s Gazprom.
The Green Party minister said: “It’s going to be a big effort and we need to know in advance that it will take time. If we need to build a strategic reserve now, we may need Russian gas for a long time.”
Austria will hold a tender on May 20 to buy 12.6 terawatt hours of gas, equivalent to the volume of fuel consumed in January, when demand is at its highest. The country is ready to spend 5 billion euros ($ 5.3 billion) to complete its storage facilities by next winter.
The Austrian Minister of Energy said: “We saw last summer and winter that the market could not supply what we needed. There is no substitute for a good level of storage as a security solution for next winter. Strategic reserve is an important part of that.”
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Austria has a very long and deep relationship with Russian energy among European countries, and in 2018 extended its long-term gas purchase contract until 2040. The state-owned OMV AG, Austria’s largest post-World War II fossil fuel company, signed a treaty with the former Soviet Union to transfer Soviet-controlled energy assets in exchange for Austria’s neutrality.
The Austrian company also traded with the former Soviet Union during the Cold War, and signed a contract a few months after the invasion of Czechoslovakia by 250,000 Russian troops.
Güssler said Austria was currently in talks with OMV to ensure that gas payments to Russia were in euros and did not violate EU sanctions.
According to Bloomberg, he said: “We have always made it clear that we only make payments that comply with European sanctions law.”
According to a report released by the Austrian Energy Agency last week, Austria could eliminate Russian natural gas imports in five years by increasing productivity, diversifying the supply and production of artificial fuels. Austria currently imports about 63 terawatt hours of gas from Russia, which covers about four-fifths of its demand.