Russian state-owned Gazprom cuts off gas supplies to Austria
Russia is claiming a total sum of $240 million in damages from the Austrian state-owned company, following an arbitration ruling by the court in Moscow.
The logo of the Russian energy giant Gazprom.
Russia will stop supplying gas to Austria starting Saturday, Austrian oil and gas group OMV announced on Friday, amid ongoing litigation with Russian energy giant Gazprom.
A company spokesman told AFP that they had "been informed" by Gazprom that gas deliveries would be discontinued.
The decision ends the country's nearly six decades of reliance, which, as recently as this past summer, was still importing 90% of its gas from Russia, primarily via Ukraine.
Austrian Environment and Energy Minister Leonore Gewessler posted on social network X, "Russia is once again using energy as a weapon."
However, "Austria has been preparing for this situation for a long time" and energy supplies are "secured" as winter approaches, with fuel depots "full" and supply routes from Italy and Germany in place, she added.
OMV, the first Western company to sign a gas supply contract with the Soviet Union in 1968, has diversified its supply sources since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Gazprom decided to cut supplies after OMV revealed on Wednesday that an arbitration ruling had granted it the right to claim around $240 million in compensation for previous supply issues.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, OMV was impacted by the reduction and eventual halt of Russian gas supplies to Germany via the Nord Stream pipeline.
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