The whole blame for the powerful explosion that occurred at 9 am at a gas distribution station located near the town of Baumgarten an der March in Lower Austria. The accident affected the Austrian gas terminal, which distributes Russian blue fuel in Europe, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, December 12. The operator of the Gas Connect Austria terminal (owned by the OMV oil and gas company) manually disconnected the gas pipeline, currently it does not work.

The company was informed that as a result of the explosion and the subsequent fire, one person was killed, 18 employees of the enterprise were injured and taken to the hospital. The dead and injured are Austrian citizens, the official press release of Gas Connect Austria. Now the gas supply has stopped in Italy, Hungary and Slovenia. In Germany, fuel supplies continue to be implemented. OOO Gazprom Export is aware of the state of emergency on the Baumgarten hub, the organization said.. "At present the company is working on the redistribution of gas flows and is doing everything possible to ensure the uninterrupted supply of gas to its customers in this transport direction," said Gazprom,. According to the Austrian police, the cause of the explosion was a technical malfunction. In itself Gas Connect Austria with conclusions yet do not hasten, however too tend to the given version. "There is a group of crisis managers on the spot. The exact circumstances of the accident remain unclear and are investigated by the police. The company is doing everything possible to help with these investigations, "the operator underlined.. They recognize that the terminal suffered serious damage, and it is not yet known when the supplies will be restored. A little later in the press release the following comment appeared: "The causes of the accident remain unclear, at present we assume that it was a technical malfunction. Supplies of natural gas can be provided in the foreseeable future ". Meanwhile, they were alarmed already in Ukraine, since the transit of Russian gas to Europe via this country through the Uzhgorod corridor on December 12 could, because of the accident in Austria, drop by one third.

However, in the company "Naftogaz Ukraine" reassured their consumers - if there is even a gas supply stoppage to Nezalezhny from the EU, then the selection from underground storage facilities will be increased, the newspaper writes.. RU". "This year we pumped very large volumes of gas into the Ukrainian gas storage facilities, 15% more than last year. That is, even with the temporary cessation or restriction of gas supplies from the European direction, we have the opportunity to increase the gas withdrawal from UGS for Ukrainian consumers, "- said the head of Naftogaz Andrey Kobolev.