Trans Austria Gas Pipeline

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

Sub-articles:

FrackSwarm portal Coal terminals Coal transport and infrastructure Oil and gas pipelines LNG terminals Pipeline construction costs Methodology and data notes

Trans Austria Gas Pipeline, also known as the Trans Austria Gasleitung GmbH (TAG) Pipeline, is an operating natural gas pipeline system that transports Russian natural gas from the Slovakia-Austria border to Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia as well as into and across Austria.

Location

The pipeline runs from the Baumgarten natural gas hub in northeastern Austria near Baumgarten an der March to the Austrian - Italian border near Arnoldstein. It consists of three parallel pipelines.

Loading map...

{"type":"ROADMAP","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"400px","height":"300px","centre":{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":47.0728651,"lon":15.4211455,"icon":""},"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","strokeColor":"#FF0000","strokeOpacity":"1","strokeWeight":"2","pos":[{"lat":48.3163,"lon":16.875},{"lat":48.2161,"lon":16.752},{"lat":48.1491,"lon":16.683},{"lat":48.1311,"lon":16.666},{"lat":48.0894,"lon":16.649},{"lat":48.0682,"lon":16.635},{"lat":48.0363,"lon":16.55},{"lat":48.0101,"lon":16.523},{"lat":47.9644,"lon":16.476},{"lat":47.9407,"lon":16.447},{"lat":47.9251,"lon":16.425},{"lat":47.921,"lon":16.395},{"lat":47.9202,"lon":16.384},{"lat":47.8748,"lon":16.324}]},{"text":"","title":"","link":"","strokeColor":"#FF0000","strokeOpacity":"1","strokeWeight":"2","pos":[{"lat":47.8748,"lon":16.324},{"lat":47.7644,"lon":16.248},{"lat":47.742,"lon":16.234},{"lat":47.6552,"lon":16.233},{"lat":47.6157,"lon":16.183},{"lat":47.5904,"lon":16.185},{"lat":47.5836,"lon":16.173},{"lat":47.5543,"lon":16.173},{"lat":47.5382,"lon":16.14},{"lat":47.4904,"lon":16.119},{"lat":47.4548,"lon":16.076},{"lat":47.4209,"lon":16.079},{"lat":47.3957,"lon":16.053},{"lat":47.3404,"lon":15.991}]},{"text":"","title":"","link":"","strokeColor":"#FF0000","strokeOpacity":"1","strokeWeight":"2","pos":[{"lat":47.3404,"lon":15.991},{"lat":47.2744,"lon":15.993},{"lat":47.2522,"lon":15.971},{"lat":47.2125,"lon":15.938},{"lat":47.1945,"lon":15.918},{"lat":47.1715,"lon":15.887},{"lat":47.1622,"lon":15.863},{"lat":47.1516,"lon":15.85},{"lat":47.133,"lon":15.833},{"lat":47.1187,"lon":15.831},{"lat":47.0938,"lon":15.792},{"lat":47.0758,"lon":15.76},{"lat":47.0299,"lon":15.669},{"lat":47.0027,"lon":15.623},{"lat":46.9696,"lon":15.583},{"lat":46.9274,"lon":15.515},{"lat":46.8798,"lon":15.473}]},{"text":"","title":"","link":"","strokeColor":"#FF0000","strokeOpacity":"1","strokeWeight":"2","pos":[{"lat":46.8798,"lon":15.473},{"lat":46.799,"lon":15.362},{"lat":46.7977,"lon":15.347},{"lat":46.806,"lon":15.314},{"lat":46.8029,"lon":15.297},{"lat":46.796,"lon":15.262},{"lat":46.7829,"lon":15.238},{"lat":46.782,"lon":15.209},{"lat":46.7746,"lon":15.198},{"lat":46.775,"lon":15.167},{"lat":46.7672,"lon":15.151},{"lat":46.7689,"lon":15.115},{"lat":46.7349,"lon":15.071},{"lat":46.7314,"lon":14.96},{"lat":46.7309,"lon":14.928},{"lat":46.7217,"lon":14.905},{"lat":46.7222,"lon":14.862},{"lat":46.697,"lon":14.818},{"lat":46.6742,"lon":14.757}]},{"text":"","title":"","link":"","strokeColor":"#FF0000","strokeOpacity":"1","strokeWeight":"2","pos":[{"lat":46.6741,"lon":14.757},{"lat":46.6791,"lon":14.667},{"lat":46.6716,"lon":14.577},{"lat":46.6376,"lon":14.513},{"lat":46.626,"lon":14.4},{"lat":46.6138,"lon":14.327},{"lat":46.5675,"lon":14.251},{"lat":46.5621,"lon":14.202},{"lat":46.5482,"lon":14.189},{"lat":46.5488,"lon":14.137},{"lat":46.5574,"lon":14.099},{"lat":46.5649,"lon":14.068},{"lat":46.5666,"lon":14.04},{"lat":46.5585,"lon":14.013},{"lat":46.5568,"lon":13.986},{"lat":46.562,"lon":13.935},{"lat":46.5557,"lon":13.79},{"lat":46.55,"lon":13.706}]}],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":6,"layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview","rotate"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[]}

Project details

Pipeline 1

• Operator: Trans Austria Gasleitung GmbH
• Owner: Trans Austria Gasleitung GmbH
• Parent company: Snam S.p.A. (84.47%), Gas Connect Austria GmbH (15.53%)
• Current capacity: 41 bcm/y total among all 3 lines
• Length: 380 km (1140 total for all 3 lines)
• Status: Operating
• Start year: 1974

Pipeline 2

• Operator: Trans Austria Gasleitung GmbH
• Owner: Trans Austria Gasleitung GmbH
• Parent company: Snam S.p.A. (84.47%), Gas Connect Austria GmbH (15.53%)
• Current capacity: 41 bcm/y total among all 3 lines
• Length: 380 km (1140 total for all 3 lines)
• Status: Operating
• Start year:

Pipeline 3

• Operator: Trans Austria Gasleitung GmbH
• Owner: Trans Austria Gasleitung GmbH
• Parent company: Snam S.p.A. (84.47%), Gas Connect Austria GmbH (15.53%)
• Current capacity: 41 bcm/y total among all 3 lines
• Length: 380 km (1140 total for all 3 lines)
• Status: Operating
• Start year: 2007

Reverse Flow Project

The "TAG Reverse Flow" was commissioned in 2020. The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG) 2020 Ten Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP) refers to the project with the code TRA-F-954.

History

Natural gas began flowing through the TAG pipeline in 1974, and the system has been continuously expanded since then. In 1988 TAG II was commissioned and the TAG Loop 2 was put into operation in order to increase transmission capacity.

Background

The 383-km TAG delivers Russian gas south from the Baumgarten gas hub to Arnoldstein on the border between Austria and Italy. The Trans Austrian gas pipeline supplies Austria, as well as Croatia, Italy and Slovenia. TAG is operated by Austrian transmission system operator Trans Austria Gasleitung GmbH. The pipeline maintains a capacity of 44.3bn cu m/year, and is the largest gas pipeline in Austria.

Ownership

The pipeline is owned by TAG GmbH (Trans Austria Gasleitung GmbH). In 2011, Italian multinational Eni S.p.A. sold its 89% stake in TAG GmbH to CDP (Cassa depositi e prestiti S.p.A.) following a ruling by the European Antitrust Commission. CDP in turn sold its majority stake to Italian infrastructure company Snam S.p.A. in 2014. Since 2015, Snam S.p.A. has owned 84.47% of TAG GmbH, with the Austrian company Gas Connect Austria GmbH (controlled 51% by OMV, 29.4% by Allianz, and 19.6% by Snam) holding the remaining 15.53%. In March 2020, OMV announced its intention to sell its 51% stake in Gas Connect Austria GmbH.

Incidents

In December 2017, an explosion and fire that erupted at Austria’s main natural gas hub in Baumgarten near the Austria-Slovakia border killed one person and injured 21 others, prompting Italy to declare a state of emergency as flows from the strategic site were cut off for most of the day.

Hydrogen "readiness"

There is a proposal to convert one of the three parallel lines to a "hydrogen-ready" pipeline, as part of the European Hydrogen Backbone network.