Gas Connect Austria
 | |
| GmbH | |
| Industry | energy |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Wien |
Key people |
Harald Stindl Stefan Wagenhofer |
| Services | Natural gas transport |
| Revenue | €263.23 million (estimate by Creditreform) |
Number of employees | approx 280[1] |
| Website | www.gasconnect.at |
Gas Connect Austria GmbH (until 2012 OMV Gas GmbH OMV) headquartered in Vienna, is a gas transmission system and distribution system operator. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Austrian oil and gas company OMV. The company’s core business is marketing cross-border gas transportation capacity and providing capacity for domestic natural gas supply in Austria. Gas Connect Austria is also responsible for the safe operation of a 900-kilometre high-pressure gas pipeline network.
Gas Connect Austria’s pipeline network for cross-border gas transportation comprises the West-Austria-Gasleitung (WAG), the Süd-Ost-Leitung (SOL), the Hungaria-Austria-Gasleitung (HAG), the Penta-West (PW), the March-Baumgarten-Gasleitung (MAB) and theKittsee-Petrzalka-Gasleitung (KIP)transmission pipelines.
The company’s gas distribution network, known as the primary distribution system (PDS), is made up of about 40 individual pipelines and supplies natural gas within Austria.
Playing a key role in the supply of natural gas to Austria and large parts of Europe, the Baumgarten gas hub is a major transit point in the Austrian gas supply system. The hub receives natural gas shipments from Russia, Norway and other countries, and dispatches gas to Germany, France, Italy, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia.
History
Gas Connect Austria was spun off from the OMV Group as OMV Erdgas GmbH in October 2001, as part of the liberalisation of the European gas market. The company was initially responsible for procuring, trading, transporting and storing gas in Austria. In October 2002, OMV Erdgas GmbH relocated to the floridotower in Vienna´s 21st district, completing the physical separation from its parent company. OMV Erdgas GmbH was renamed OMV Gas GmbHin May 2004. Procurement and trading activities were spun off into the newly established OOMV Gas International GmbH in 2006, and in 2010 another new company, OMV Gas Storage GmbH, took over OMV Gas’s storage activities.
In October 2011, the Austrian Parliament passed the new Natural Gas Act (Gaswirtschaftsgesetz). Based on the European Union’s third energy package, it requires integrated energy companies such as OMV to fully separate network operation from trading and production, providing for the creation of Independent Transmission Operator (ITOs). Under the new legislation, such companies must adopt distinct corporate identities. Accordingly, OMV Gas GmbH was renamed Gas Connect Austria in January 2012.
In April 2012 Gas Connect Austria was appointed as the market area manager for the Eastern market area, and in this capacity it is responsible for coordinating gas transportation in a large part of Austria. In addition, in July 2012 Austrian energy regulator E-Control certified Gas Connect Austria’s status as an ITO.
As part of the unbundling of Austrian transmission system operators (TSOs) required by the European Union, in September 2014 Gas Connect Austria’s Trans Austria Gasleitung (TAG) pipeline was transferred to Austrian TSO Trans Austria Gasleitung GmbH, which has owned and operated the TAG since that time. In parallel with this change, Baumgarten-Oberkappel-Gasleitungsgesellschaft merged with Gas Connect Austria.
Faced with the prospect of write-downs due to persistently low oil prices in 2015, parent company OMV announced in October 2015 that it intended to sell up to 49% of its stake in Gas Connect Austria in 2016.[2]
References
- ↑ "Factsheet" (PDF). Gas Connect Austria. December 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
- ↑ http://orf.at/#/stories/2304785/ OMV verschreckt Anleger mit Milliardenabschreibung, orf.at, 19 October 2015, accessed 19 October 2015.