The Trans Austria Gas (TAG) pipeline is a
natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon ...
pipeline that leads from the
Slovak-
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n border at
Baumgarten an der March to
Arnoldstein
Arnoldstein ( sl, Podklošter, it, Oristagno) is a market town in the district of Villach-Land in the Austrian state of Carinthia.
Geography
Location
Arnoldstein is located at Austria's southern border between the Carnic Alps and the Karawank ...
in the south, near the border with
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. Natural gas originating from
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
is transported to and used in Italy and Austria. In addition, it supplies
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...
through the SOL Pipeline System (Süd - Ost - Leitung), which branch-off at
Weitendorf.
Technical features
The pipeline is long. The original two lines date back to the 1960s, but in 2006 the pipeline was extended by adding the third line. The extension cost US$157 million.
[
]
The capacity of the pipeline is 41 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas annually. The construction of two additional compression stations increased the capacity to 47.5 bcm at end 2008.
[
]
Pipeline company
The pipeline is managed by Trans Austria Gasleitung GmbH (TAG GmbH), a partnership of Eni and OMV. Eni owns 89% of TAG and manages the pipeline, with OMV holding the remainder.[
]
Antitrust case
Since 2007, the European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
has been probing Eni's alleged restrictive practices on the TAG, Transitgas and TENP pipelines by limiting third parties access to the pipelines.[
] The hearing is set for 27 November 2007.[
] To end the case, Eni is studying the possible sale of the pipeline.[
]
References
External links
{{Portal, Austria, Energy
Company website
Natural gas pipelines in Austria
Eni