The head of the Austrian government is threatening to take away empty underground storage facilities from the Russian Gazprom.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said the government would consider taking away Russia ‘s Gazprom’s underground natural gas storage facility if the supplier did not fill it up.
He stated this in an interview with the Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung.
This is an underground gas storage near the city of Haidach in the state of Salzburg, which is the third largest gas storage in Central Europe.
“If Russia’s Gazprom doesn’t fill up our biggest gas storages, we’ll take them away for other suppliers,” Nehammer warned.
At present, the storage facility, capable of holding 2.4 billion cubic meters of gas, belongs to Gazprom and is actually empty.
In an interview, the Austrian Chancellor noted that he is not a supporter of the nationalization of private property. However, according to him, the Austrian authorities “should prepare at the legislative level for direct intervention where necessary.”
Recall that earlier the Austrian chancellor said that his country would not comply with Putin’s condition to pay for Russian gas in rubles.
Read also: