Federal government contributes

Financing for West Austria gas pipeline agreed

(Bild: AFP)

The turquoise-green coalition has agreed on a financial injection for the expansion of the West Austria Gas Pipeline (WAG) in the Mühlviertel region. "Who bears the costs has been clarified. Now it's really a matter of implementation," announced Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP). In terms of the details, the project is now in its final stages.

The expansion of the 40-kilometer-long WAG pipeline, which runs through Upper Austria, is intended to promote Europe's independence from Russian gas. Although the pipeline already runs from east to west as well as from west to east, the capacity in the latter case is significantly lower. The expansion is intended to bring a 30 percent increase in import capacity between Germany and Austria, but will cost a good 200 million euros and has so far failed due to the financing issue.

There had been "very intensive negotiations" within the government, said Nehammer, and now the question of who would bear the costs had been clarified. The gas supply is a priority issue, which is why the Ministry of Finance "will make funds available from the budget so that the project can be started", the Chancellor promised. The Republic will assume a share of the costs, but Nehammer did not yet specify the exact amount when asked. The project is currently being finalized, but the planning process has already been completed.

Construction of the pipeline will take up to two years
"We have to prepare ourselves for the fact that there may be crises that need to be dealt with," explained Nehammer, for example if there is no more Russian gas. Although provisions have already been made for this, "in order to be really secure, we need an additional pipeline", which would enable Austria to bring additional liquid gas or Norwegian gas here, and then hydrogen in the future, as Nehammer emphasized. On the question of when the project will be realized, Nehammer pointed out that the construction of a pipeline takes one to two years on average.

Withdrawal from Russian gas "associated with high costs"
When asked about an exit from gas supplies from Russia, Nehammer pointed out that the contracts had been concluded by OMV. In order to increase the security of energy supply, a strategic reserve had been created. The withdrawal from contracts must be evaluated, as the question arises as to "how much it will actually cost", emphasized Nehammer. There has been no embargo on Russian gas to date, so unilateral changes to contracts and new legal framework conditions would result in liability for damages, "and that could be associated with high costs". Energy Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) has been tasked with "examining and evaluating all costs and then actually preparing the energy phase-out from Russian gas".