Dmitry Zhdannikov and Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich of Reuters report that the Austrian firm OMV and Russia’s Gazprom have ended their 50-year relationship. They write:
The trigger that ended more than 50 years of gas flows from Russian state energy giant Gazprom to OMV earlier this month was the Austrian group’s seizure of Russian gas as payment to cover the value of an arbitration award, five sources told Reuters.
OMV, was among the few remaining buyers of Russian gas in Europe after Gazprom, lost almost all its customers there in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Before the war began, Russia was Europe’s single biggest supplier of natural gas.
On Nov. 13 OMV said it had won an arbitration case in Germany against Gazprom for 230 million euros ($239 million) in connection with irregular supplies to its German unit, and would take steps to immediately enforce it against Gazprom’s invoices.
Three days later, Gazprom suspended gas supplies to the Austrian company. […]
Gazprom considers the gas seizure as non-payment and hence stopped supplies, the source close to Gazprom said.
OMV had been buying Soviet and Russian gas since 1968, and the events signalled the Austrian firm is seeking ways to completely exit Russian gas purchases despite its contracts with Gazprom running until 2040, four of the five sources familiar with Gazprom and OMV operations said. […]
Austria’s energy minister Leonore Gewessler said it was up to OMV to decide whether to exit from contracts with Gazprom.
“My task, and that of the federal government, is to create the framework conditions to make this exit possible,” she said.
Read more here.
