In the three Austrian federal states of Lower Austria, Vienna and Burgenland, the tank farms have been partially emptied. That says the managing director of the oil wholesaler Doppler and confirms corresponding media reports. Politics are relaxed.
Austria is threatened with fuel shortages. In the three federal states of Lower Austria, Vienna and Burgenland, the tank farms have been partially emptied.
“There is a fuel shortage in Austria,” says Bernd Zierhut, managing director of the oil wholesaler Doppler, to “OÖNachrichten”, and confirms corresponding media reports. In Upper Austria and the western federal states, however, the situation is better.
In politics, on the other hand, people are relaxed. There is “currently no shortage of supply,” said Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler. There are currently no plans to release further oil reserves. But the situation is reassessed every day. Gewessler also did not confirm a possible introduction of 100 km/h on motorways.
Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer made a similar statement, emphasizing that the large Austrian oil company OMV had compensated for the corresponding losses after the refinery accident.
On the other hand, reports are worrying that Kazakhstan, at the behest of Russia and its President Putin, has to stop oil exports via a terminal in the Black Sea. 80 percent of the oil exported from Kazakhstan flows through this. The problem for Austria: in 2020, 36.6 percent of its own crude oil imports came from Kazakhstan; it is by far the most important reference country in the Alpine republic.
Despite the ordered stop for oil transit, exports of Kazakh oil have continued to flow to Austria. “If this is a standstill with flimsy justification, that’s another exclamation mark by Putin against Europe,” says Zierhut. Since oil deliveries have a lead time of two to three months, it is possible to find replacements if something changes.
Nevertheless, Zierhut called for changes. Repairing oil and gas supply streams takes two to three years, he said. therefore, one must immediately start releasing in-house production in Austria and using OMV’s opportunities for gas exploration in Romania. A pipeline to then transport the extracted gas to Austria could be built in two to three years, said Zierhut.
