On Thursday, after the Austrian energy group OMV warned of trade disruptions, European gas prices surged by 5%, reaching their highest level since November last year.
The price currently stands at €46 per megawatt-hour, though it remains significantly lower than the previous peak of €346 in August 2022.
On Wednesday, OMV announced that the Russian state-owned company Gazprom might halt supplies due to a court ruling. An arbitration tribunal awarded the Austrian company €230 million in compensation for a dispute with Gazprom. This sum is intended to compensate for the suspension of gas deliveries to Germany in September 2022. OMV now seeks to recover this amount from Gazprom’s subsidiary, Gazprom Export, and plans to offset it against its monthly payments. Consequently, the company fears that the Russian corporation might cease supplies altogether.
Tom Marzec-Manser, head of gas analysis at the market intelligence service ICIS, stated that the situation could escalate as early as next week. This is when the next monthly payment of €213 million is due. If OMV cannot make this payment, Gazprom may be prompted to terminate the contract immediately. “The current contract accounts for nearly half of the gas now transported through Ukraine,” he noted.
Typically, around 38 million cubic meters of Russian gas flow into the EU daily via Ukraine. OMV confirms that its storage facilities are over 90% full. Austria’s Energy Minister Leonore Gewessler also wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that they “have long been preparing for a potential supply stoppage.”
