Russian Gazprom stopped gas supplies to Austria. Austria’s close cooperation in gas imports started in 1968. Initially, this cooperation was with the USSR. It later continued with Russia. This long-standing partnership came to an abrupt halt within 3 days.
How and why did it happen? On November 14, Austrian company OMV won an arbitration against Gazprom for $242 million (excluding interest and court costs). The lawsuit was filed due to irregular gas supplies. The supplies were completely ceased in September 2022 when the Kremlin hoped to freeze Europe. Vienna realized that Gazprom would not pay and decided to claim this amount through the existing contract immediately. In other words, OMV planned to withhold regular monthly payments for gas supplied to Gazprom. They intended to do this until the amount awarded by the court was reached.
On October 15, OMV received a letter from Gazprom Export. Gazprom Export is a subsidiary of Gazprom. The letter stated that natural gas supplies under the existing contract would be stopped completely.
On November 16, Gazprom cut off gas supplies to Austria, its oldest and largest EU customer among those remaining. However, Vienna turned out to be ready, diversifying gas supplies with the help of non-Russian sources. Moreover, it actually pushed Moscow toward such a scenario.
Chancellor Karl Nehammer noted that the incident was something “we have been preparing for since the war in Ukraine began.” He assured that gas storage facilities were full. “No one will freeze this winter, no home will be cold,” he added. “We will not be blackmailed by anyone, not even by the Russian president. We will not be brought to our knees by Putin’s government, by Putin himself,” he declared. Minister for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology Leonore Gewessler made a similar statement. “The actions of Gazprom today prove again that Russia is not a partner. But tomorrow also marks the end of a risk. If we no longer receive supplies from Russia, we can no longer be blackmailed,” she wrote.
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