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Gazprom to boost gas supplies to Austria by 1 bln cubic meters per year

The document was signed at a working meeting between Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and OMV CEO Rainer Seele in St. Petersburg

© Egor Aleev/TASS

MOSCOW, November 5. /TASS/. Russian energy giant Gazprom and Austrian oil and gas company OMV have signed a supplement to a contract in order to increase gas supplies to Austria by 1 bln cubic meters per year.

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and OMV CEO Rainer Seele signed the document at their working meeting in St. Petersburg, the Russian gas holding said in a statement.

"The document stipulates an increase of gas supplies to Austria in addition to the contract volume by 1 billion cubic meters per year throughout the term of the contract," it said.

"Gazprom’s export to Austria has been setting new and new records over the past few years. In 10 months of 2018 the supplies to the republic exceeded by one third the volume in the same period of 2017, reaching 8.8 bln cubic meters. The signing of the deal on extra export volumes, in addition to the contract, once again confirms high demand of our European consumers in Russian gas," Miller said.

Seele noted that Europe’s demand in gas will grow since gas-fired power stations successfully replace coal while domestic production in Europe drops. The increasing gas supplies to Baumgarten in Lower Austria contribute to ensuring security of energy supplies for both Austria and other European countries, he said.

At the meeting the sides also considered further steps on fulfilling the deals signed this October. In particular, this concerns setting up a joint coordination committee on cooperation of companies and also on preparing a deal on OMV’s joining a project on developing blocks 4A and 5A of the Achimov deposits of the Urengoi gas field in West Siberia.

Export to Austria

OMV was the first European company that made the gas supply agreement with Soyuznefteexport in 1968.

The initial volume of annual supplies (142 mln cubic meters) surged more than 64-fold in 50 years. Over 218 bln cubic meters of natural gas have been delivered to Austria since 1968.

OMV is the main partner of Gazprom in Austria. Companies interact in the sphere of gas production, transportation and supplies.

In 2017, Gazprom set a record of gas exports to Austria - 9.1 billion cubic meters, which is 50.3% higher than in 2016.

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