Russia’s Gazprom stops the flow of natural gas to Austria, OMV utility says [Video]

FILE – A worker sits on his water tank truck next to the business tower Lakhta Centre, the headquarters of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom in St. Petersburg, Russia, April 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, File) (Dmitri Lovetsky, Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

VIENNA – Russia’s state-owned natural gas company Gazprom stopped supplies to Austria early Saturday, according to the Vienna-based utility OMV, after OMV said it would stop payments for the gas following an arbitration award.

The official cutoff of supplies before dawn Saturday came after Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Friday held a hastily called news conference to emphasize his country has a secure supply of alternative fuel for this winter.

OMV said it would stop paying for Gazprom gas to its Austrian arm to offset a 230 million-euro ($242 million) arbitration award it won from the International Chamber of Commerce over an earlier cutoff of gas to its German subsidiary.

The Austrian utility said in an email that no gas …

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