Austria announces Russia will stop gas supply on Saturday

Russia told Austria on Friday it will suspend gas deliveries via Ukraine on Saturday, in a development that signals a fast-approaching end of Moscow's last gas flows to Europe, News.Az reports citing Reuters.

Russia's oldest gas-export route to Europe, a pipeline dating back to Soviet days via Ukraine, is set to shut at the end of this year.

Ukraine has said it will not extend the transit agreement with Russian state-owned Gazprom (GAZP.MM), opens new tab in order to deprive Russia of profits that Kyiv says help to finance the war against it.

Moscow's suspension of gas for Austria, the main receiver of gas via Ukraine, means Russia will now only supply significant gas volumes to Hungary and Slovakia, in Hungary's case via a pipeline running mostly through Turkey. In contrast, Russia met 40% of the European Union's gas needs before Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said Gazprom's notice of ending supplies was long expected and Austria has made preparations.

"No home will go cold ... gas-storage facilities are sufficiently full," he told reporters.
Gazprom declined to comment.

Austria's biggest energy supplier, said it has been preparing for the eventual cut-off of Russian gas and can deliver gas to its customers by importing via Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

Austria's gas imports from Russia will end following a contractual dispute between Gazprom and OMV.

In a notice published on the central European gas hub platform, OMV said Gazprom told it supply would stop on Saturday.

News.Az