Vienna International Energy Industry News

Read the latest headlines about developments in the international energy industry in Vienna and Austria

Ukrainian Gas Pipeline Key Issue for EU Commission

A gas pipeline plan in the Ukraine is among the EU Commission’s key infrastructure projects.

October 16, 2013

Solution to Croatian/Hungarian Mol Issue Expected Soon

The Croatian justice has issued an international arrest warrant for the head of Hungarian oil company Mol.

October 15, 2013

EU Commission Favors New Nabucco Project

After OMV’s pipeline project Nabucco failed, the EU Commission takes into consideration a stripped-down version along the Danube.

October 14, 2013

Croatia: Hypo Group Losing Last Industrial Participation

Croatian chemical company Dioki is facing bankruptcy which is why Hypo Group is losing one of the last industrial participations in the country.

October 14, 2013

Serbia’s Participation in South Stream Not at Risk

According to Petar Skundic, Serbian energy advisor to the Prime Minister, the gas pipeline project is not imperiled by the government’s austerity measures.

October 14, 2013

Romania Keeps Majority Stake in Romgaz

Romania´s government will privatize 15% of the country´s biggest natural gas producer. The opening of the economy to foreign investors bears potential dangers.

October 12, 2013

Gazprom May Face Proceedings by Austrian OMV

OMV considers arbitral proceedings against Russian Gazprom in case no joint solution will be found.

October 9, 2013

Hungary and Croatia to Solve MOL/INA Issue

Both Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Janos Martonyi and his Croatian counterpart Vesna Pusic intend to solve the issue between Hungarian MOL and Croatian INA.

October 9, 2013

Poland Hopes for Cheap Gas by Gazprom

The Polish government is hoping to be able to bargain prices with Russian energy giant Gazprom, Polish Minister for Economy Janusz Piechocinski announced today.

October 8, 2013

Hungary Rejects Extradiction of Head of Mol

A Hungarian court rejected the extradiction of Zsolt Hernadi, who is alleged of having bribed former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanander.

October 7, 2013

Hungarian MOL May Withdraw from Croatia

The Hungarian government considers selling MOL´s Croatian peer INA.

October 4, 2013

EU Commission to Lead Cartel Proceedings Against Gazprom

The Russian energy giant Gazprom might face penalties of up to € 11bn.

October 3, 2013

Eurozone: Inflation Drops to 1.1 Percent

According to first estimates by Eurostat, the Eurozone shows the lowest inflation rate in more than a year. Only twelve months ago the inflation rate was at 2.7 percent.

September 30, 2013

Rosneft Wants to Take over Majority of TNK-BP

The World’s biggest oil company Rosneft intends taking over British-Russian joint venture TNK-BP at the beginning of next year.

September 30, 2013

Poland Leads Ranking of Top Enterprises in CEE

Credit insurance company Coface has for the fifth time published a study about the Top 500 enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe.

September 24, 2013

Poland: Warsaw Stock Exchange to Introduce WIG30

The new index covers thirty enterprises instead of formerly twenty and reduced the dominance of the banking industry.

September 23, 2013

Further Nationalizations in Hungary?

In order to acquire further foreign-owned bank and energy companies, Hungary issues new sovereign bonds.

September 23, 2013

Keuschnigg: Losses of Hypo Compensated by Privatizations

Christian Keuschnigg, head of the IHS (Austrian Institute for Higher Studies) suggests to privatize OMV, Post and Telekom Austria to pay for Hypo Group.

September 20, 2013

Wifo: Economy Remains Competitive Despite High Wages

Head of Wifo (Austrian Institute for Economic Research), Karl Aiginger, calls for a change of views in economic policy as competitiveness is more than just low costs.

September 18, 2013

Gazprom to Team Up With Macedonia

Russian energy giant Gazprom is interested in cooperating with FYR Macedonia.

September 17, 2013

Romania: Austrian Investors Demand Transparency

In an interview with Business Review Romania, Rudolf Lukavsky, commercial counselor for Romania and Moldova at the Austrian Embassy described the downsides and advantages of the economic environment in the country.

September 17, 2013

Croatia, Slovenia and Italy in Favor of Closer Cooperation

Italian, Croatian and Slovenian PMs push for stronger cooperation.

September 16, 2013

Serbia Welcomes Russian FDI

Serbian Prime Minister announced that his country was interested in Russian investments.

September 13, 2013

Turkey: Strong Industrial Production at Start of Q3

Turkey saw a strong industrial production at the start of the third quarter, according to official data, which gives hope for an improved economic growth as the country is facing more and more economic difficulties.

September 10, 2013

TAP: Surveys with Contractors to Begin

Trans Adriatic Pipeline has authorized its contractors to start surveys.

September 9, 2013

Romania: Industrial Sales Increased 4.7 Percent in 2013

Romania’s industrial sales increased 4.7 percent in the first seven months.

September 9, 2013

OMV: Oil Discovery in Northern Europe

Austrian Energy Enterprise OMV has discovered significant amounts of oil in the Barents Sea. Around 200m to 500m barrel are estimated to be exploitable.

September 6, 2013

Serbia: UK Enterprises Likely to Invest in Serbia

70 British companies are interested in investing in Serbia's economy.

September 6, 2013

OMV to Take Over Offshore Block in Madagascar

OMV acquires interest in offshore Madagascar block

September 2, 2013

Romania: Planning on Energy Sufficiency by 2018/19

Gas pipeline between Romania and Moldova is set to become operational this year.

August 30, 2013

Romania Claims Compensations for Nabucco

Romania claims EU compensation for abandoned Nabucco project.

August 29, 2013

EVN Records Lower Net Profits

Business development Q. 1–3 2012/13

August 29, 2013

OMV: Discovery of Gas in Pakistan

OMV: Discovery of gas and condensate in the Mehar block, Pakistan.

August 29, 2013

Electricy Thieves Caused Losses for EVN in Bulgaria.

Austrian energy provider EVN lost € 800,000 because of electricity thieves.

August 27, 2013

Slovenia: Decrease of Net Electricity

In the seven months of 2013, Slovenia's total consumption of electricity decreased for less than 1% over the same period one year ago.

August 27, 2013

Bulgaria and Romania to Strenthen Relations

Bulgaria and Romania plan to strengthen relations at bilateral, regional and European level.

August 26, 2013

Ukraine Diversifies Sources of Reverse Gas Supply

Ukraine plans on soon opening two more routes through Romania and Slovakia.

August 22, 2013

Romania: Without Nabucco, Better Chances for Higher Pay-Out for Transgaz

This year's tariffs revisions are better suited to protect the company for the drop in gas consumption, thus RBI sees lower risk of unrealized revenues.

August 20, 2013

Ukraine Remains in a Recession for a Year

In the second quarter of 2013 GDP contracted by 1.1 percent on a year-on-year comparison basis.

August 20, 2013

OMV: Biggest Additional Purchase in Company’s History

OMV invests billions in a participation in the North Sea: The Austrian energy company acquires stakes of Norwegian enterprise Statoil in oil and gas fields in the North Sea for around € 2bn.

August 19, 2013

Ukraine Reduces Imports of Gas by 35 Percent

From January to June 2013, Ukraine was able to reduce gas import by more than 35 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Ukrainian Statistics Service.

August 16, 2013

Czech Republic: New Elections Expected At the End of October

Prime Minister Petr Necas’ resignation leads to new elections soon. The Social Democrats, who want to introduce the Euro, are potential winners.

August 16, 2013

US to Support Ukraine Gain Energy Independence

One of the key priorities of US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey R. Pyatt is the support of Ukraine to gain greater independence in the energy sector.

August 14, 2013

Petrom: New Unit at Petrobrazi Refinery

OMV Petrom commissioned the new gas desulfurization and sulfur recovery unit at Petrobrazi.

August 8, 2013

EVN: Transfer of Shares

EVN carries out and terminates release of own shares to employees.

August 8, 2013

Moody´s Downgrades Austrian Verbund

The rating agency lowers the rating of the Austrian energy group from „A3“ to „Baa1“.

August 2, 2013

Austria: Verbund to Take Austerity Measures

Only a few months ago, CEO of Verbund Wolfgang Anzengruber promised that “2013 will become the best year in the company’s history”. However, there have been bad news for the energy company ever since.

August 1, 2013

Austria: Operative Losses for Verbund

Quarters 1–2/2013: Verbund improves EBITDA and Group result considerably. In total, the water supply, asset swap and impairments have a favourable impact on results.

July 31, 2013

EVN Forced to Lower Electriciy Prices in Bulgaria

Austrian energy provider EVN is ordered by the regulator to drop electricity prices.

July 30, 2013

Czech Republic: US Export-Import Bank Offers Loan for Temelin

The official export credit agency of the United States offers a loan under the condition that Westinghouse wins the tender.

July 30, 2013