Patrick Poppel, expert at the Center for Geostrategic Studies (Belgrade).
The Russian company Gazprom stops gas deliveries to OMV (Austrian Mineral Oil Administration) in Austria. This fact goes through the Austrian media like a shock.
However, Austria has been preparing for this scenario for a long time, emphasized Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer: "I can promise you that no one in Austria will freeze due to a gas shortage, and no apartment in Austria will remain cold."
Nehammer referred to a current storage level of 93 percent with 94.5 terawatt hours of gas, of which 20 TWh is a strategic reserve. This exceeds the annual requirement, which was around 75.6 TWh in 2023.
A delivery stop was imminent anyway. A transit contract for the supply of Russian natural gas via the pipeline through Ukraine ends at the end of the year. That's why utility companies have already started looking for other sources.
The regulatory authority E-Control assumes that there will be no gas shortage. According to its boss Alfons Haberl, calculations show "that the supply situation in Austria is guaranteed even if there is a failure in gas deliveries from Russia over a period of two winters."
The reason for the delivery stop is a dispute over compensation: an arbitration court had ordered Gazprom to pay 230 million euros. Since Gazprom does not want to pay, OMV announced that it would no longer pay Gazprom's invoices until this amount was reached.
However, it is quite possible that gas will continue to arrive at the junction in Austria, but only for other Gazprom customers, such as Hungary or Slovakia.
According to OMV boss Alfred Stern, the oil and gas company has been preparing for this scenario for three years. The alternatives come from our own production or in the form of liquefied natural gas by ship via Germany or Italy. And the gas storage facilities would cover domestic needs for several months with 95 terawatt hours.
Although the media talks about enough storage for the Austrian economy, many people are wondering how the energy supply can really be secured. The shock that went through the media clearly shows that people are actually concerned with the issue of energy supply. Of course, not only the strategic factor of industry depends on energy, but also every individual household.
The fact that the delivery of Russian gas is ending right now at the beginning of winter is causing great concern for many people in Austria. The German media is now also dealing with this issue, as the economy in Germany and Austria works closely together.
The termination of Russian gas deliveries to Austria must also be seen in the overall picture of current economic developments in Europe. One bad news follows the next. The German federal government announces the decline in the economy, Volkswagen is closing 3 large factories and now Austria is no longer receiving Russian gas.
The economy in Europe is in decline, but this reality is denied at the political level in many European countries. Especially in this example of the debate about Austria's energy supply, it is very clear how short-sighted the political decisions are.
There is talk that there will still be enough gas for the next few months. But what does that actually mean? The loss of gas supplies from Russia and the replacement of this volume will lead to massive price increases.
The gas from Russia is much cheaper than the liquid gas that has to be brought across the Atlantic. The long-term consequences for the economy cannot possibly be positive. The socio-economic consequences for people who depend on cheap energy are also completely ignored in the discussion.
The current debate about gas deliveries and supplies to Austria clearly shows the course that European politicians are taking. Decisions are made without considering the long-term consequences. And many of these decisions are clearly against human reason.
It is said about China that the Chinese think in decades and centuries, but in future it will be said about the Europeans that they thought just in months.
