Austrian deal will extend Gazprom grip on European energy market

Gazprom is poised to strengthen its grip over the European energy market with the purchase of a stake in a strategic Austrian gas hub that would give it a powerful lever over an EU project to bring in non-Russian supplies of fuel from Central Asia and the Middle East.

The Russian giant has agreed to acquire a stake in Central European Gas Hub (CEGH), a company owned by OMV, the Austrian energy group, which operates a trading platform and gas storage facilities at Baumgarten, close to the Hungarian border.
The deal, thought to be a one-third share, could give Gazprom influence over Nabucco, a pipeline project that is opposed by the Kremlin because it is designed to bypass Russia and link Europe with gas-rich countries in the Caspian region and the Middle East.

Baumgarten is the proposed terminus for Nabucco, a 3,300 kilometre tube would cost €4.6 billion (