OREANDA-NEWS. Salzburg (Upper Austria) has hosted a solemn ceremony dedicated to the completion of the first leg of the Haidach underground gas storage.

The UGS was constructed through the highest safety & environmental protection standards in a record short time – 2 years. The gas volume of the first UGS leg will be equal to 1.2 bcm of gas, daily productivity will be at 12 mcm.

The second UGS phase is planned to be constructed at the end of 2008 and will be completed in April 2011. RAG will be responsible for construction and technical operating.

The project will be funded by Gazprom, RAG and WINGAS with some EUR 260 mln. The Haidach UGS facility will have 2.4 bcm in maximum throughput, which is roughly 25 per cent of the overall annual gas consumption in Austria.

The Haidach UGS facility is the largest in Austria and the second-largest in Central Europe.