OMV and Gazexport: New Contract for the Transport of Natural Gas to Western Europe
Posted: 23 May 2005
On May 15 OMV Gas GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of OMV Aktiengesellschaft, and Gazexport Ltd. Moscow, signed a transport contract on quantities of natural gas for the West Austria Gaspipeline (WAG).
Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, CEO of OMV, commented: “This contract is another milestone in the almost 40 years of cooperation between OMV and Gazexport. It is important for securing a long-term supply of natural gas for Europe . The deal will also increase the significance of OMV’s Baumgarten gas distribution station as a key European natural gas hub.”
OMV Gas already transports approximately 50 bcm of natural gas through its Austrian pipeline network. Of this amount, the transit volume for Western, Eastern and Southern Europe is around 43 bcm annually. This is approximately a third of all Russian gas exports to Europe .
In the new contract Gazexport authorizes OMV to transport approximately 4.4 bcm of Russian natural gas, annually to 2027, from the Slovakian border near Baumgarten through Austria , to the German border near Überackern (Burghausen). A massive expansion of the WAG system will be needed to achieve this, and OMV already plans to invest around EUR 260 million in the project.
The expansion will be carried out in three stages and will increase the annual capacity of the pipeline from 7 bcm to 11 bcm. Construction will begin this year, and the first stage of expansion should be completed in the fall of 2007, bringing an additional capacity of 1.9 bcm per year into operation. The second stage of expansion is expected to be completed in 2008, adding a further annual capacity of 0.6 bcm. The last stage should be finalized by 2011, contributing an additional capacity of 1.44 bcm per year.
Posted by Editor Pipeline Magazine
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