"During the meeting, the head of the Russian Ministry of Energy and the Vice-Chancellor of Austria also discussed expanding cooperation in the oil industry, the power industry, as well as developing renewable energy sources," the ministry’s press service said.
The ministry’s press service said Novak took part in Mitterlehner’s meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, where the proposed Nord Stream-2 natural gas pipeline was on the agenda.
Austria’s OMV oil and gas company is one of five European energy firms Russia’s Gazprom signed a shareholder agreement with in September, allocating each a 10-percent stake in the Nord Stream-2 project.
OMV and Gazprom signed a separate agreement on the terms and conditions of a possible asset swap, giving the Austrian firm a 24.98-percent stake in a project to develop two units at an oil, gas and condensate field in north-central Russia.
OMV CEO Rainer Seele, who is among the Austrian business leaders accompanying Mitterlehner on the trip to Moscow, has suggested that an asset swap agreement with Gazprom could be finalized this summer. He called on EU member states to back the project, stressing the need to convince the European Commission that Nord Stream-2 was in Europe's interests.
The Nord Stream-2 project plans to use the original Nord Stream pipeline for 86 percent of the route before branching off. It is estimated to provide up to 55 billion cubic meters of gas directly to the German coast through the Baltic Sea.
