Francois Murphy and Alexandra Schwarz Goerlich

VIENNA, Reuters – Russian supplies to Austria continue unrestricted. There is no indication of that changing. The government stated Wednesday that the Russians are still supplying Austria with arms and ammunition. It also said it was looking for alternative sources.

Austria gets 80% of its natural gasoline from Russia. This is a significant dependency which it claims will need time to get rid of now that Russia’s invasion in Ukraine has shown that Europe needs to move away from the cheapest gas source.

The volume of deliveries has not increased since the beginning of war. They have actually increased,” said Karl Nehammer, Austrian Chancellor.

Leonore Gewessler, the energy minister, said that 5 billion euros (or $5.53 billion) was being budgeted by the government to increase the country’s natural gas reserves to 80% capacity in the fall. This is on top of the 1.6 billion euros that has already been earmarked for this year to fund a strategic reserve.

Nehammer said that Putin had assured him when he visited Russia two weeks ago that Austria would continue to receive the agreed quantities of gas. He also stated that Austria can keep paying Gazprombank euros, which are then converted into rubles.

Gazprom, a Russian energy company (MCX) announced Wednesday that it had stopped gas supply to Poland and Bulgaria because they failed to pay in rubles for the gas. Nehammer stated that they declined to use Gazprombank’s payment system, which Austria, Germany and other countries have adopted.

Nehammer stated at the same time that delivery was not possible since pipelines running through Ukraine to supply Austria aren’t guaranteed. No one is able to predict how the war might develop.

Nehammer stated that Austria, along with its partially state-owned OMV, are seeking additional gas supplies while they work together on European Commission joint purchases for EU member states.

“There’s Norwegian gas and Azerbaijan gas – what can we do to bring these volumes of gas to you?” He stated.

($1 = 0.9422 euros)