VIENNA. The draft law, prepared by the Austrian Minister of Energy and Climate, foresees a mandatory phase-out by 2028, as well as provisions for emergencies, such as when a major supplier fails to deliver.
This issue has been raised many times since the war of aggression that Russia launched against Ukraine: Austria has always been dependent on Russian gas. If this gas supply is compromised, prices can rise rapidly, as the gas crisis at the end of 2022/2023 showed us. This can lead to a number of negative effects on the economy: Ultimately, the slow decline in inflation is mainly due to high gas prices, which in turn has a strong impact on electricity prices. Austria still suffers from this economically in every field.
Politicians so far to gas suppliers they just need to “diversify” their resources, i.e. non-russian Trying to sign up with natural gas suppliers in his call found.
emerging conclusion extremely eerie: The source of the gas supplied to the Austrian natural gas network has been analyzed month by month for a long time. The rate of Russian gas in the Austrian market has hardly decreased. The rate of gas coming from Russia to Austria in December 2023 is a new record with a share of 98 percent while the following January 2024 (percent 97) and February 2024 (percent 87 ) months weren’t looking any better.
Austrian Energy Minister Lenore Gewessler from the Green Party visibly disturbed by this situation. In February, gas diversification obligation and Russian natural gas gradual announced the other day its own law regulating its discontinuation.
According to news from the Kurier Newspaper, the draft law has since been coalition partner ÖVP It was sent to. Draft, Gas Industry Law, Gas Diversification law and Energy Direction in the law Changes It was seen to contain .
Two issues are of interest in this draft: On the one hand, the mandatory retirement of “Russian gas”, and on the other hand, the obligation of gas companies to take measures in case of an emergency.
exit from Russian gas
According to the draft, starting from the 2024/25 gas year her The gas supplier must provide evidence that the share of non-Russian natural gas has increased. In the first year, this share should account for 40 percent of the total volume supplied to customers. This share will be gradually increased to 100 percent by 2027/28. This means that Russian gas should no longer be purchased in 2028.
According to the draft law Vienna’daki CEGH The gas exchange will need to develop a suitable method to determine the proportion of non-Russian gas at the point of trading. In future, the regulatory authority will query and publish the origin of gas volumes supplied to Austria on an annual basis. Gas suppliers will be obliged to provide relevant data.
precautionary duty
In order to prevent one-sided, monopolistic and dangerous supply relationships, the bill requires gas suppliers to prove that they can continue to supply gas to all their customers in the future, even if their largest individual supplier goes bankrupt. This obligation can only be waived if the supplier purchases only non-Russian gas or has a diversified supply portfolio. This means that the largest single supplier supplies less than 25 percent of the supplier’s total gas sales.
Why, strategic gas reserves As an emergency cushion for the Republic until 2027 extends.
Minister of Energy and Climate Gewessler now needs the approval of the Austrian People’s Party and the agreement in the coalition, as well as a constitutional majority in the National Council, the Austrian Parliament.
It is anticipated that the issue will play a role in the election campaign if Greens politicians or parties oppose the draft ( news, Kurier)
2024-04-13 11:28:27