Austrian Gas Grid to Restore Transit Flows 'Within Hours'

Austria's gas grid operator said 8pm local time (7pm GMT) December 12 that transit flows to international customers would be restored within hours, following an explosion that morning at the Baumgarten hub that transits Russian gas headed to Italy, southern Germany and part of the Balkans.

"Following extensive investigations by the fire brigade and the regional police, flows on the Trans Austria Gas pipeline [TAP] towards Italy, the West Austria Gas pipeline to Germany and the Hungaria-Austria Gas pipeline will be restored over the next few hours," said the operator Gas Connect Austria (GCA). That same wording was also issued by OMV, the 51%-owner of GCA, in a statement at about the same time. 

"Austria's natural gas supply was at no time at risk," noted OMV.

Italian gas grid operator Snam, which is the majority-owner of TAP, had said earlier in the afternoon that it expected the interruption of Russian gas exports to Italy to be short-lived.

GCA's statement continued: "The exact cause of the accident is unclear; the current assumption is that it was caused by a technical fault. The respective authorities and experts from Gas Connect Austria are intensively investigating the potential causes of the incident. Austria’s natural gas supply was at no time at risk. With the restart of operation on the international pipeline systems, it will be possible to resume transit through Austria, thereby restoring security of supply for the affected countries."

OMV added that the man who died in the explosion at Baumgarten was an employee of TUV Austria; it extended its sympathy to his family and loved ones; 21 others were injured.

GCA had said earlier about 4.30pm local time that a 100 meter by 100 meter area was affected by the consequences of the explosion in the morning of December 12 at the Baumgarten gas hub, that nearly 250 firefighters and over 40 rescue workers were in action during the course of the day. It confirmed, along with the one fatality, that 21 were wounded including employees of contractors from six other countries.