Stricter gas storage obligations in Austria for importers of Russian gas will be difficult to enforce because no system exists to certify whether gas is of Russian origin, market participants told Argus.
Austria's council of ministers on 5 July approved amendments enforcing stricter gas storage obligations on importers of Russian gas. Under the new legislation, suppliers are obliged to guarantee the supply to protected customers for 45 total days from October-March, assuming average winter conditions, up from 30 days previously. This obligation is reduced to 30 days if importers can provide "suitable documents" to prove that the gas held to fulfill this obligation did not come from Russia, the proposed text shows. These obligations are also proposed to be extended to power plants that run primarily on gas.
Given the lack of a system with which to guarantee the origin of gas imports, it is unclear how the regulator might enforce the new storage rules, market participants said.
While Austrian guarantees of origin exist for commodities such as biogas and hydrogen, there is no system for guaranteeing whether gas comes from Russia, a source told Argus.
"We still do not know what is required and how they propose to deliver this without severely constraining the use of Austrian storage," another source close to the matter said. "I can imagine that we end up in a position that only Austrian-produced gas becomes eligible for injection into storage, which will massively limit demand for the storage services."
Waiting for the rules
While no method exists yet to establish gas origins, other existing systems could be adapted to serve this purpose, according to Austrian energy regulator E-Control.
"We already have in place a system for monitoring compliance with the security of supply standards and would integrate these evidences in the monitoring system," E-Control told Argus. "We will work on this as soon as the legal basis is established."
Once the law comes into force, the regulator would then define the "appropriate evidences" that suppliers would need to submit as proof of the gas' origin, E-Control said.
"Different types of verifications could be envisaged," Austrian energy ministry BMK told Argus, adding that Austria already has some experience with reporting the origin of gas at a national and EU level through the strategic reserve and AggregateEU, but ultimately it will be up to E-Control, the ministry said.
One possible way around the proposed legislation might be to deliver gas to Austria's virtual trading point (VTP), from which it would be nearly impossible to differentiate Russian and non-Russian supply, a source suggested.
In any event, the legislative process needed to underpin the origin obligations is ongoing, and E-Control said it hopes the new rules will be approved and enacted this coming autumn. The proposed amendments were sent to Austria's committee on economy, industry and energy on 7 July, but they may not be formally presented until September since Austria's parliament is in summer recess at present, a source told Argus.
Ukraine in May briefly implemented a system that required importers to provide similar certificates of origin to prove their supply had not originated in Russia, but it significantly hindered imports and was repealed in June following a market backlash.
Haidach uncertainty
Separately, it remains unclear when or how market participants will be able to book capacity directly from Austria's Haidach storage facility to the national grid.
Haidach was linked to the national transmission system's Penta West pipeline in December, and there are further plans to connect it to the Austrian distribution system by April 2024, BMK told Argus.
Astora — one of two commercial operators of Haidach — told Argus that its customers cannot book transport capacity to Austria from Haidach at present, but that it is "clarifying the current legal situation and compliance with the regulations".
Austrian transmission system operator Gas Connect Austria told Argus that interruptible capacity could be booked into the grid from the Speicher Penta West point — formerly known as Speicher 7Fields — but said the point is not subject to any transparency rules at present.
RAG, the other operator of Haidach, was not immediately available for comment.
