By Pavel Polityuk, Vladimir Soldatkin and Nina Chestney
(Reuters) – Russia told Austria it is suspending gas deliveries from Saturday in a development that signals a fast-approaching end to Moscow’s last remaining gas flows to Europe.
The suspension means that Russia will now only supply significant gas volumes to Hungary and Slovakia, in stark contrast to the decades of dominance that saw the country supply 40% of the EU’s gas needs before Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Austria was the first Western European country to buy Russian gas when the USSR signed a gas contract in 1968, just months before the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
The relationship came to an end this year after a contractual dispute between Russia’s Gazprom and Austria’s OMV.
In a message published on the central European gas hub platform, OMV said Gazprom told it supplies would stop on Saturday.
Gazprom declined to comment.
Austria is one of the few European countries still dependent on Russian gas, as much of the rest of the continent has reduced imports following the invasion of Ukraine.
OMV said it is preparing for the eventual cutoff of Russian gas and can still supply gas to its customers by importing through Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
“We still expect this to exacerbate an energy crisis in Austria, which has significantly reduced gas demand and hit the manufacturing sector,” Eurointelligence analysts said.
“The Austrian economy is currently stuck in a recession. Germany is sneezing and Austria is catching a cold,” she added.
Germany was also heavily dependent on Russian gas before the war, but supplies stopped when the Nord Stream pipelines under the Baltic Sea were blown up in 2022.
The notice of the end of supplies to Austria came as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany – Russia’s biggest gas customer until Moscow’s forces invaded Ukraine – made their first phone conversation since December 2022.
Russia was willing to look at energy deals if Berlin was interested, the Kremlin said.
“It was emphasized that Russia has always strictly respected its treaty and contractual obligations in the energy sector and is ready for mutually beneficial cooperation if the German side shows interest in it,” the Kremlin said.
Russia shipped about 15 billion cubic meters of gas through Ukraine in 2023 – representing just 8% of the peak of Russian gas flows to Europe via various routes in 2018-2019, according to data collected by Reuters.
According to the International Energy Agency, the transit route would meet 65% of gas demand in Austria and its eastern neighbors Hungary and Slovakia by 2023. Ukraine has said it does not plan to extend the transit deal until 2025, which would have meant the loss of gas for Austria and Slovakia.
