OREANDA-NEWS  Gazprom and OMV AG signed an addendum to the contract for gas supplies to Austria. The agreement implies an increase in the volume of gas supplies to Austria by 1 billion cubic meters per year above the amount stipulated in the contract for the entire period of its validity.

The document was signed during a working meeting between Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and OMV AG Chairman Rainer Seele in St. Petersburg.

"Gazprom's exports to Austria have been setting new records for several years. And for the ten months of 2018, deliveries to the Republic have already exceeded the volume for the same period of 2017 by a third, amounting to 8.8 billion cubic meters," Miller said.

He also called the additional agreement a confirmation of the high demand for Russian gas from European consumers.

In turn, Zele noted that the European demand for gas will continue to grow as a result of the fact that gas power plants effectively replace coal, and Europe is facing a decline in its own production.

"By increasing gas supplies to Baumgarten in Lower Austria, we are making an additional contribution to the security of energy supply, both in Austria and in other European countries," he added.

During the meeting, the parties also discussed further actions to implement the agreements signed in October 2018. In particular, they discussed the creation of a joint coordination Committee on cooperation between companies, as well as the progress of the transaction on OMV entering into the project to develop areas 4A and 5A of the Achimov deposits of the Urengoy field.

The initial volume of annual supplies (142 million cubic meters) to Austria for 50 years increased by more than 64 times. In total, more than 218 billion cubic meters of gas have been supplied to Austria since 1968. In 2017, Gazprom set a historical record in terms of exports to Austria - 9.1 billion cubic meters of gas, which is 50.3% (3 billion cubic meters) higher than in 2016 (6.1 billion cubic meters) and 33.7% (2.3 billion cubic meters) - the volume of deliveries in 2005, when the previous record was reached (6.8 billion cubic meters).

On June 5, 2018, an agreement was signed to extend the current contract between Gazprom export and OMV Gas Marketing & Trading GmbH for the supply of Russian natural gas to Austria until 2040. Previously, the contract was valid until 2028.