Gazprom gas deliveries to Austria to increase by 1bcm/year
A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Rainer Seele, Chairman of the Executive Board of OMV, took place in St. Petersburg on November 5.
In the course of the meeting, the parties signed an Amendment to the contract on gas supplies to Austria. According to the document, gas deliveries to Austria will be increased by 1 billion cubic meters per year beyond the contractual amount for the entire contract period.
“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. The signing of a document on additional exports beyond the contractual amounts serves as yet another proof of the high demand for Russian gas on the part of our European consumers,” said Alexey Miller.
“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,” said Rainer Seele.
In addition, the parties discussed further steps in the implementation of the agreements signed in October of this year, such as the document establishing a Joint Coordinating Committee for the purposes of collaboration between the companies, as well as the upcoming deal during which OMV will obtain a stake in the project for developing Blocks 4A and 5A in the Achimov formations of the Urengoyskoye field.
Background
OMV is Gazprom’s main partner in Austria. The companies cooperate in gas production, transportation and supplies.
Since 2017, OMV has been partnering with Gazprom in the Yuzhno-Russkoye oil, gas and condensate field development.
On June 5, 2018, an Agreement was signed to extend until 2040 the existing contract between Gazprom Export and OMV Gas Marketing & Trading for Russian gas supplies to Austria. The contract had been valid until 2028.
June 1, 2018, marked 50 years since signing the Agreement on natural gas supplies to Austria.
On October 3, 2018, Gazprom and OMV signed the Basic Agreement on Asset Sale.
On October 4, 2018, Gazprom and OMV inked the Memorandum on Strategic Cooperation.
In 2017, Gazprom set a new record for gas exports to Austria at 9.1 billion cubic meters, a rise of 50.3 per cent (3 billion cubic meters) from 2016 (6.1 billion cubic meters) and 33.7 per cent (2.3 billion cubic meters) from 2005, when the previous record had been reached (6.8 billion cubic meters).
About OMV
OMV is producing and marketing oil and gas, innovative energy and high-end petrochemical solutions – in a responsible way. With Group sales of EUR 20 bn and a workforce of around 20,700 employees in 2017, OMV is one of Austria’s largest listed industrial companies. In Upstream, OMV has a strong base in Romania and Austria and a balanced international portfolio, with the North Sea, the Middle East & Africa and Russia as further core regions. 2017 daily production stood at approximately 348,000 boe/d. In Downstream, OMV operates three refineries with a total annual processing capacity of 17.8mn tons and more than 2,000 filling stations in ten countries as of year-end 2017. OMV runs gas storage facilities in Austria as well as in Germany; its subsidiary Gas Connect Austria GmbH operates a gas pipeline network in Austria. In 2017, gas sales volumes amounted to 113 TWh.
Source: OMV press release
