Austria natural gas plant blast kills 1, injures 18
Print Edition
AN explosion and fire that ripped through Austria’s main gas pipeline hub yesterday killed one person and injured at least 18 others, prompting Italy to declare a state of emergency as flows from the strategic site were cut off.
The Baumgarten site in eastern Austria, near Slovakia, is a major regional transfer node, taking natural gas from as far away as Russia and pumping it toward neighbors including Germany and Italy, its biggest recipient.
News of the blast sent gas prices in Europe soaring on fears it would restrict supply as winter sets in.
Gas Connect Austria, which operates the site, said the hub had been shut down but the blaze had been brought under control. The cause appeared to be a technical fault, it said.
“An explosion occurred this morning before 9:00am on the grounds of the Baumgarten Natural Gas Station,” the company said. “The explosion caused a serious fire that has been contained to several small fires.”
Footage on social and other media showed a column of fire in the distance rising from a flat landscape. A wide area around the site was cordoned off.
The fire brigade, police and Gas Connect Austria said one person was killed. A fire brigade spokesman said 18 people were injured, one of them seriously, while a police spokesman put the number of injured at 21.
Gas Connect Austria said its deliveries to Austria’s southern and southeastern borders were affected by the blast until further notice. Those pipelines supply Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia but also Baumgarten’s biggest recipient, Italy.
That dependence on its gas led Italy to declare a state of emergency as its industry minister said the country had a “serious” energy supply problem.
A state of emergency would give Rome the right to use extraordinary measures such as allowing coal and oil power plants to fire at full blast.
The Italian wholesale day-ahead price surged 150 percent to 60 euros per megawatt-hour, its highest recorded level.
Gas Connect Austria said that Austrian authorities would conduct a damage assessment at Baumgarten as soon as it was safe and it said supplies would resume as soon as possible.
Slovakia’s main gas transit route to Austria was suspended after the fire, Slovak pipeline operator Eustream said. Russia’s Gazprom Export said it was working on redirecting gas flows and trying to secure uninterrupted supplies to clients.
In Britain, Europe’s biggest gas market, gas for immediate delivery soared 40 percent to 95 pence per therm, a level not seen since 2013.
The UK National Grid said there was sufficient gas supply to meet demand amid multiple outages, underlining the breadth of concern about supply after the Baumgarten blast.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
