Austria gas plant burns after deadly explosion

A fire followed the blast which happened around 08:45 (07:45 GMT) at the Baumgarten site, just east of the capital Vienna, near the Slovak border.

On Twitter, Austrian police said the situation was under control and a technical fault had caused the blast. The flow of Russian gas has dropped, triggering price hikes in Europe.

Baumgarten is a major hub for imported gas Russian gas, which is sent on to a number of European countries. The facility receives about 40bn cubic metres of gas per year. ...

Gas Connect said the incident should have no effect on gas deliveries to Austria but those to Italy and Croatia might be reduced.

It said it was "doing everything possible to secure uninterrupted gas supplies" to customers in the region. Spot prices rose sharply across Europe after the incident.

In Italia, il Ministero dello Sviluppo economico ha dichiarato lo stato d’emergenza. “La fornitura di gas ai consumatori italiani è comunque assicurata in quanto la mancata importazione viene coperta da una maggiore erogazione di gas dagli stoccaggi nazionali di gas in sotterraneo - si legge nel comunicato -. In base al Regolamento europeo e al Piano di emergenza nazionale, il Ministero ha pertanto dichiarato lo stato di emergenza e monitora costantemente la situazione, in contatto con gli operatori interessati, al fine di verificare i tempi necessari per la ripresa dei flussi”.

Il ministro Carlo Calenda ha evidenziato l’importanza di un’alternativa come il Tap, il gasdotto Trans-adriatico che porterà in Italia di gas naturale proveniente dall’area del Mar Caspio, in particolare dall’Azerbaigian: “Oggi c’è stato un incidente serio sul gas in Austria - le parole del ministro durante la presentazione di un libro -, vuol dire che abbiamo un problema serio di forniture, con una grande concentrazione di forniture dalla Russia. Il gasdotto Tap serve a questo: se avessimo il Tap non dovremmo dichiarare, come faremo oggi, lo stato d’emergenza”. E’ il caso di ricordare che il Tap, dopo aver attraversato Grecia e Albania, approda sulle coste leccesi, nell’area di Melendugno, dove il progetto è contestato da sindaci, ambientalisti e intellettuali.

L’esplosione ha determinato una interruzione nella distribuzione del gas che interessa direttamente l’Italia, con la conseguenza più che probabile di un innalzamento dei prezzi. Attraverso Baumgarten transita infatti il 10 per cento della domanda europea di gas naturale, per un volume di circa 40 miliardi di metri cubi l’anno (dati 2015). Gas soprattutto russo, perché la centrale è il terminale del gasdotto di Urengoy-Uzhgorod, che collega la Russia all’Europa passando attraverso l’Ucraina, con una portata potenziale da 140 miliardi di metri cubi l’anno. E da Baumgarten, al cuore di una rete di gasdotti secondari, il gas arriva in Italia, Francia, Germania, Croazia, Slovenia ed Europa orientale.

L’impianto fa capo alla società Central European Gas Hub (Cegh), a sua volta controllata da Omv (65%), Wiener Boerse (20%) ed Eustream (15%). Ed è gestito da Gas Connect Austria, che ha lanciato l’allarme: il transito del gas attraverso l’Austria verso sud e sud-est è compromesso, “i gestori dei gasdotti vicini sono stati

http://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2017/12/12/news/austria_esplosione_impianto_gas_baumgarten-183872450/

In Italy, the Ministry of Economic Development has declared a state of emergency. “The supply of gas to Italian consumers is assured, however, because the non-importation is covered by a greater supply of gas from underground gas storage facilities,” the statement reads. According to the European Regulation and the National Emergency Plan, the Ministry has therefore declared a state of emergency and constantly monitors the situation, in contact with the operators concerned, in order to verify the time necessary for the recovery of flows “.

Minister Carlo Calenda highlighted the importance of an alternative such as Tap, the Trans-Adriatic pipeline that will bring in Italy natural gas from the Caspian Sea area, in particular from Azerbaijan: “Today there was a serious accident on gas in Austria - the words of the minister during the presentation of a book -, means that we have a serious supply problem, with a large concentration of supplies from Russia. The Tap pipeline serves this: if we had the Tap we should not declare, as we will today, the state of emergency “. It is worth mentioning that the Tap, after passing through Greece and Albania, arrives on the coast of Lecce, in the area of Melendugno, where the project is contested by mayors, environmentalists and intellectuals.

The explosion has led to an interruption in the distribution of gas that directly affects Italy, with the more than likely consequence of a rise in prices. In fact, 10% of the European demand for natural gas passes through Baumgarten, for a volume of around 40 billion cubic meters a year (2015 data). Gas mainly Russian, because the plant is the terminal of the Urengoy-Uzhgorod gas pipeline, which connects Russia to Europe passing through Ukraine, with a potential flow rate of 140 billion cubic meters a year. And from Baumgarten, at the heart of a network of secondary gas pipelines, gas arrives in Italy, France, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia and Eastern Europe.

The plant is owned by the company Central European Gas Hub (Cegh), in turn controlled by Omv (65%), Wiener Boerse (20%) and Eustream (15%). And it is managed by Gas Connect Austria, which has sounded the alarm: gas transit through Austria to the south and south-east is compromised, “the managers of neighboring pipelines have been ...

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