Austrian Chancellor warns Putin that Gazprom may lose important gas reservoir

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Austrian government would take away Gazprom's massive underground storage facility in the country if Russia’s gas monopoly fails to properly use it.

Nehammer addressed the issue at a press conference in Vienna, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"As for the gas issue, it was raised by Putin – that all deliveries will be completed in full. I told him that, if Gazprom doesn’t use the Haidach storage facility, it will lose it as it will be handed over to other suppliers," Nehammer said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the underground gas reservoir in Haidach outside Salzburg is the second-largest facility of this kind in Central Europe, being able to hold a quarter of Austria's annual gas reserves.

According to Austrian media, the storage facility owned by the Russian company Gazprom is currently empty. At the same time, there must be a strategic reserve Austria needs in case gas supplies are cut off.