EU state makes new Russian gas promise

Austria has made a decision to abandon Russian gas supplies by 2027, local media has reported
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The Austrian government is reportedly planning to fully abandon imports from Moscow

Austria’s ruling coalition has reportedly agreed to completely eliminate the country’s Russian gas supply by 2027, media outlet Kurier reported on Saturday, citing a draft document.

The decision has been taken in line with Brussels and is aimed at reducing dependence “on Russian energy imports in order to protect the economy and households from renewed price and supply risks,” according to the text of the agreement. Kurier also noted that Russian state energy giant Gazprom furnishes between 80 and 90% of Austria’s gas.

“The President of the European Commission has committed to the goal of a Europe-wide phase-out of Russian natural gas supplies by 2027,” the document reads. “Austria is also committed to these goals.”

“The phase-out of Russian gas is to take place as part of an overall strategy to transform the energy system, which takes decarbonization, security of supply, and affordability for households, businesses, and industry into account equally. Particular attention must be paid to ensuring that households and businesses are given the best possible support in this change.”

The move was reportedly dictated by the Green Alternative Party, which is a part of the governing coalition, and remained the last obstacle in the negotiations on the new security strategy, which the government had planned to deliver by the end of last year. The Austrian People’s Party (OVP) reportedly agreed to the demand in exchange for the Greens approving Finance Minister Magnus Brunner as the Austrian candidate to serve as European commissioner in the next term.

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The Austrian Security Strategy is now set to be finalized by the Federal chancellery and reportedly will be presented in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, it remains unclear how the country will achieve the phase-out by 2027, given that the Green’s Gas Act was recently rejected by the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPO), the second major party in the parliament, and that the contract with Gazprom was extended until 2040 by the previous government.

Once the EU’s main gas supplier, Gazprom has ramped up natural gas imports to Europe by nearly a quarter in recent months. Levels declined dramatically in 2022 following Western sanctions and the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.

The EU has been replacing the supply with imports of LNG from other countries, including the US, which has become the main source of gas for the bloc. This has resulted in significant cost increases for European consumers.

In the meantime, Russia has rerouted gas deliveries eastwards, boosting sales with Beijing by nearly half of what was shipped before 2022.