Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer called on Russian energy giant Gazprom to refill its natural gas storage facility near Salzburg in an interview with the Kleine Zeitung newspaper on Thursday.
According to the publication, the Haidach underground facility near Salzburg is the second largest gas depot in Central Europe and can hold roughly a quarter of Austria’s annual gas consumption. It belongs to Gazprom and currently sits empty.
“We are also looking clearly and resolutely at Gazprom’s huge storage facility in Haidach. If this is not filled, we will consider measures so that it has to be filled,” Nehammer stated.
He told the publication that Austria is unlikely to nationalize the depot, but “there are other ways to access the storage.”