Gas supply from Austrian hub back to normal after deadly blast
The supply of gas to neighbouring countries from Austria's main pipeline hub was back to normal on Wednesday after a deadly explosion shut it down.
The Baumgarten site in eastern Austria is a major regional transfer node, taking gas from as far away as Russia and pumping it towards neighbours including Italy - its biggest recipient - as well as Germany, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia.
"We are back in normal operation," a spokesman for Gas Connect Austria, a subsidiary of energy group OMV, said the day after Tuesday's explosion. All transit systems in all directions were well functioning.
Russia separately pointed to the accident as underlining the need for its own Gazprom gas projects to proceed.
The amount of damage was not clear yet, and the Gas Austria Connect spokesman said he did not know to what claims against it, if any, would be made against his company.
Tuesday's explosion, in which one person was killed and 21 were injured, led Italy to declare a state of emergency as flows from the site were cut off for most of the day.
Italian gas grid operator Snam said flows from Russia resumed on Tuesday night.
News of the blast sent gas prices in Europe soaring on fears it would...