VIENNA, August 3. /TASS/. Austria’s ruling coalition has agreed to add a provision on stopping imports of Russian natural gas by 2027 to the country’s new security strategy, the Kurier newspaper said.

According to the latest estimates, Russian natural gas makes up 80-90% in the Austrian pipelines. In 2023, Austria could have transferred about four billion euros to Gazprom, the newspaper said.

The Austrian government believes that this dependence poses a threat to the economy. Once gas supply is cut off, gas prices will surge for households and industry. This risk should be "mitigated through the controlled refusal," the government said.

In June 2018, an agreement was signed to extend the existing contract between Gazprom Export and OMV Gas Marketing & Trading GmbH for the supply of Russian natural gas to Austria until 2040. The contract is based on the take-or-pay principle, meaning OMV is obliged to transfer money even if it does not actually take the gas.

In July, the Austrian Energy Agency said that it would examine the gas-supply contract between the OMV and Gazprom in order to potentially scrap it.