The Trans Austria Gas (TAG) pipeline is a
natural gas
Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...
pipeline
A pipeline is a system of Pipe (fluid conveyance), pipes for long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas, typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countries ...
that leads from the
Slovak-
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
n border at
Baumgarten an der March
Baumgarten an der March (Croatian: ''Pangort na Moravi'') is a small subdivision of the municipality of Weiden an der March in Lower Austria, Austria. It has only 192 inhabitants.
Significance for the energy sector
Baumgarten has an important r ...
to
Arnoldstein
Arnoldstein (, ) 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 Karawanken mountain range, near the c ...
in the south, near the border with
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. Natural gas originating from
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
is transported to and used in Italy and Austria. In addition, it supplies
Slovenia
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
through the SOL Pipeline System (Süd - Ost - Leitung), which branch-off at
Weitendorf
Weitendorf is a municipality in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to ...
.
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
Eni is an Italian oil and gas corporation.
Eni or ENI may refer to:
Businesses and organisations
* Escuela Nacional de Inteligencia, the Argentine intelligence academy
* Groupe des écoles nationales d’ingénieurs (Groupe ENI), a French engi ...
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 primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
has been probing Eni's alleged restrictive practices on the TAG, Transitgas and TENP pipelines by limiting third parties access to the pipelines.[
] 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