In April 2024, Austria imported 81% of natural gas from the Russian Federation, and a month earlier this share was even higher — 93%.
Points of attention
- Austria's high dependency on Russian gas is primarily due to a long-term supply contract with Russia, complicating imports via alternative routes.
- The presence of high gas taxes in Germany makes it difficult for Austria to explore alternative sources for gas imports, leading to the continuous reliance on Russian gas.
- Investment in projects like the WAG Loop gas pipeline aims to reduce Austria's dependence on Russian gas and provide access to gas sources from northwestern Europe.
- Despite sanctions and geopolitical tensions, Austria continues to purchase Russian gas, with over 90% of gas imports originating from Russia.
- Russian oil and gas exports play a significant role in boosting the country's revenue, with projections indicating a substantial increase in income from oil and gas sales.
Despite the sanctions, Austria continues to purchase Russian gas
According to the data of the specialized information platform of the department, in February and January of this year, the total share of Russian gas in Austrian imports was 87% and 97%, respectively. In February 2022, Austria imported 79% of its gas from Russia.
This was reported by the Austrian Ministry of Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology.
Specific figures for the volume of imported gas on the platform are not given. At the same time, it is noted that the total volume of natural gas imports to Austria generally decreased and in April 2024 amounted to 87% of the volumes that entered the country at the time of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation in February 2022.
The Ministry of Energy of Austria explains the high share of Russian gas by the fact that the long-term supply contract with Russia continues to operate, and the import of gas via alternative routes is complicated by high gas taxes in Germany.
These circumstances mean that the share of Russian gas imports in Austria remains very high (more than 90% recently). The absolute numbers are currently falling, as gas consumption in Austria has fallen significantly compared to the previous year, with a lot of gas still stored in gas storage and less gas having to be imported in general.
The share of imports from non-Russian sources mainly consists of Norwegian gas and liquefied natural gas, as well as a small share of gas from North Africa and Central Asia. Imports from non-Russian sources are carried out to Austria mainly through Germany and Italy.
In 2018, the partially state-owned Austrian company OMV extended the gas supply contract with Russia's Gazprom until 2040. At the time of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, Austria bought 79% of its natural gas from Russia.
Russian gas enters Austria through Slovakia and the Ukrainian gas transportation system.
In June 2022, the Austrian federal government allocated 70 million euros to finance the 40-kilometer WAG Loop gas pipeline, which aims to reduce the country's dependence on Russian gas and provide access to gas sources from northwestern Europe.
Why Russia's income from the sale of oil and gas will double
Calculations show that due to the increase in prices, Russia's projected April revenues from oil and gas will amount to 1.292 trillion rubles, which is equal to about 14 billion dollars.
In general, the Russian government budgeted federal revenues from the sale of oil and gas in the amount of 11.5 trillion rubles for 2024, which is 30% more than in 2023. Thus, this could significantly offset last year's decline due to lower oil prices and sanctions-hit gas exports.
At most, the restoration of Russia's energy revenues contributed to the country's budget deficit shrinking to 607 billion rubles or 0.3% of GDP over the past three months.
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