Economics and Labour Minister Martin Bartenstein will take part tomorrow, Thursday, in his capacity as President of the EU Energy Council, in the energy ministerial meeting in Moscow of the G8— the group of the world’s eight leading industrial nations. A meeting with President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin is on the programme. Russia currently has the chair of the G8. The conference, which will be attended by top representatives of the International Energy Agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Energy Forum, the World Bank and OPEC as well as the energy ministers, will primarily discuss issues relating to the global security of energy supply, energy market efficiency and the sustainability of international energy systems. Increasing the security of Europe’s energy supply and greater cooperation with the Russian Federation in the energy sector are also priorities of the Austrian Presidency of the EU.
Bartenstein will already have a bilateral today with Alexander Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Gazprom, and visit with him the Gazprom dispatching centre. Gazprom is the world’s biggest gas company with an annual production volume of 545 billion cubic metres of gas. In 2005 Austria imported approximately 5.4 billion cubic metres of gas from Russia. This covers around 60% of Austria’s gas consumption (20% is covered from domestic sources, the rest from Germany and Norway).
Since 1968 Austria has been importing Russian gas on the basis of a supply agreement between OMV and Gazprom. OMV was the first western company to conclude such an agreement with the then Soviet Union. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union and even during the recent gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine, Austria’s supply of Russian gas has always been secure. Fossil energy sources – oil and natural gas – therefore account for a total of 87 % of Austria's imports from Russia. The sharp increase in the value of imports is above all due to last year’s energy price hike (61% compared with 2004).
Contact:
Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour
Office of the Minister: Ingrid Nemec, Tel.: +43 (1) 711 00-5108
Press section: Harald Hoyer, Tel.: +43 (1) 711 00-5130
presseabteilung@bmwa.gv.at
http://www.bmwa.gv.at
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