RAG Austria AG (RAG) is the largest
gas storage operator and thus
energy storage
Energy storage is the capture of energy produced at one time for use at a later time to reduce imbalances between energy demand and energy production.
A device that stores energy is generally called an accumulator or battery.
Energy comes in ...
company in
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 ...
. The company focuses its business activities on the storage of
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 carbo ...
and other gaseous energy and the development of green-gas technologies (e.g. research projects such as Underground Sun Storage and Underground Sun Conversion). With a total storage capacity of more than six billion
cubic meters
The cubic metre (in Commonwealth English and international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or cubic meter (in American English) is the unit of volume in the International System of Units (SI). Its symbol is m ...
of natural gas, RAG contributes to the security of supply of Austria and
Central Europe
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...
. RAG operates the Haidach gas storage facility (
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the ...
/
Upper Austria
Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, a ...
) in joint ventures with
Gazprom Export
PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐzˈprom) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. As of 2019, with sales over $120 billion, it was ranked as the larges ...
and
Wingas
Wingas GmbH is a gas distribution company located in Kassel, Germany. It is a subsidiary of Gazprom, which held its shares through W&G Beteilligungs-GmbH & Co. KG.
History
Wingas was established in 1993 by BASF subsidiary Wintershall and Gazp ...
as well as the 7Fields gas storage facility (Salzburg/Upper Austria) together with
Uniper
Uniper SE juːnipɚis an energy company based in Düsseldorf, Germany. The name of the company is a portmanteau of "unique" and "performance" given by long-term employee Gregor Recke. Uniper was formed by the separation of E.ON's fossil fuel ...
(former E.ON Gas Storage). In addition RAG operates its own storage facilities at Puchkirchen/Haag, Haidach 5, Aigelsbrunn, 7Fields(RAG). The production and use of gas as fuel (
LNG
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...
,
CNG
Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in cyl ...
) are also business areas of RAG.
[Branchenreport Mineralölindustrie 2018.''](_blank)
''wko.at''. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
Shareholders are
Energieversorgung Niederösterreich (EVN) (50,025 %), Uniper (29,975 %), Energie Steiermark Kunden GmbH (10%) and Salzburg AG (10%).
[''Daten und Fakten 2018.''](_blank)
''rag-austria.at''. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
The company was founded in 1935 as Rohöl-Gewinnungs AG by Socony-Vacuum Oil, Inc. (today
Exxon Mobil Corporation
ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...
) and N.V. de Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij (today
Royal Dutch Shell
Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...
). In 1937 the first major oil discovery was made with the RAG II well about two kilometres north of Zistersdorf. In 1936 and 1937, the company secured the largest part of the
Vienna Basin
The Vienna Basin (german: Wiener Becken, cz, Vídeňská pánev, sk, Viedenská kotlina, Hungarian: ''Bécsi-medence'') is a geologically young tectonic burial basin and sedimentary basin in the seam area between the Alps, the Carpathians and t ...
with 7000 freehold exploration rights.
After the
State Treaty of 1955, the
ÖMV, which had emerged from the Soviet Mineral Oil Administration (Sowjetische Mineralölverwaltung), began to dominate Eastern Austria. Therefore RAG gradually shifted the focus of its production to Upper Austria.
History
Zistersdorf oil field and Soviet occupation
In 1938, with the development of the Gaiselberg oil field, the oil discovery that made the small town of
Zistersdorf
Zistersdorf is a town in the district of Gänserndorf in the Austrian state of Lower Austria
Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the ...
the epitome of the oil wealth of the Vienna Basin, took place. The oil-bearing layers of the Gaiselberg field, located almost one kilometer south-west of Zistersdorf, cover an area of only about 2.5 km², but along a geological fracture (the so-called Steinbergbruch) there are a number of oil-bearing layers one above the other, whose depth ranges from 800 m to almost 2,400 m.
During the period of the "
Anschluss
The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938.
The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...
" of Austria to
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
from 1938 to 1945, the RAG was continued as "enemy property" by a German asset manager. In the following period of
Soviet occupation
During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into two different ...
of Eastern Austria from 1945 to 1955, the RAG was de facto not nationalised despite a decision in 1946, but most of the drilling equipment was taken to the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
as spoils of war and the entire production had to be transferred to the Soviet Petroleum Administration. As a result, the production rights in the Vienna Basin were also restricted to the two oil fields RAG/Gösting and Gaiselberg, which existed before 1945, and which remained so even after the withdrawal of the Soviet occupying power in 1955.
In 1948 and 1951, however, RAG received research assignments from the Geological Survey of Austria in the former US occupation zone in Upper Austria. In May 1956, a new deep drilling rig made Austria's first major oil discovery outside the Vienna Basin near Puchkirchen. The following years were rather sobering. Only near
Ried im Innkreis
Ried im Innkreis (Central Bavarian: ''Riad'') is a town in the Austrian state of Upper Austria, approximately west of Linz and north of Salzburg. It is the capital of the district of Ried im Innkreis, and it serves as the administrative centre f ...
a significant oil field was discovered in 1959.
Concessions in Upper Austria
In 1960 RAG's concession area in Upper Austria was extended to the area south of
Wels
Wels (; Central Bavarian: ''Wös'') is a city in Upper Austria, on the Traun River near Linz. It is the county seat of Wels-Land, and with a population of approximately 60,000, the eighth largest city in Austria.
Geography
Wels is in the H ...
. As early as 1962, the most productive Austrian oil field outside the Vienna Basin to date was discovered in Voitsdorf in the municipality of
Ried im Traunkreis. The field extends to about 10 km in an east-west direction and was developed via 43 wells, 10 of which were still being used for production in 2007. The north-south extension is only slightly more than one kilometre. More than 3 million tons of oil have been extracted from the two oil-bearing horizons at depths of 2100 to 2200 metres.
Around the Voitsdorf field, further large oil fields were developed until 1980:
Eberstalzell
Eberstalzell is a municipality in the district of Wels-Land in the Austrian state of Upper Austria.
Geography
Eberstalzell lies in the Hausruckviertel
The Hausruckviertel (literally German for the ''Hausruck'' quarter or district) is an Austri ...
(previous oil production approx. 500,000 tons; 2012 3 wells active), Engenfeld (approx. 150,000 tons; 2012 1 well active), Oberaustall (approx. 200,000 tons; 2012 1 well active),
Sattledt
Sattledt is a municipality in the district of Wels-Land in the Austrian state of Upper Austria
Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders ...
(approx. 1 million tons, 2012 6 wells active) and Steinhaus (approx. 200,000 tons; 2012 1 well active).
In 1968, the highest annual production in the company's history was achieved with 419,118 tons of crude oil, more than half of which came from the Voitsdorf field. After that, crude oil production declined and reached its temporary low in 2005 with only 75,275 tons. Since then, the discovery of larger reservoirs in Hiersdorf west of Wartberg an der Krems as well as near Bad Hall and Sierning has increased production to 123,704 tons (15% of Austrian crude oil production) by 2011, of which 104,204 tons came from the foothills of the Upper
Austrian Alps
The Central Eastern Alps (german: Zentralalpen or Zentrale Ostalpen), also referred to as Austrian Central Alps (german: Österreichische Zentralalpen) or just Central Alps, comprise the main chain of the Eastern Alps in Austria and the adjacent ...
and 19,500 tons from the two fields near Zistersdorf.
RAG has developed a total of about 50 oil and gas fields in Austria to date. Due to the rise in oil prices, the relatively expensive development of oil reservoirs in Austria has been intensified again in recent years. After 2000, this led to several major oil discoveries in the eastern concession area around the health resort of
Bad Hall
Bad Hall () is a market town in the Steyr-Land district of the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Its name, Bad Hall, means "salt bath," a reference to its long history of baths and spas. It is renowned for its saline springs, strongly impregnated wi ...
.
Natural gas production
In the 1970s, the development of natural gas reservoirs became more important. Especially in western Upper Austria, about 15 km on each side of a line from
Kremsmünster
Kremsmünster is a town in Kirchdorf an der Krems District, in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Settled in 777, it is home to the Kremsmünster Abbey.
The Abbey was founded 777 by Duke Tassilo III of Bavaria and is one of the oldest abbeys of ...
to Burghausen, a large number of medium-sized and smaller natural gas reservoirs were discovered, mostly at depths of 500 m to 1500 m. In 1997, the Haidach natural gas reservoir (
Straßwalchen
Straßwalchen (Central Bavarian: ''Strosswoicher'') is a market town in the district of Salzburg-Umgebung (''Flachgau'') in the state of Salzburg in Austria.
Geography
The municipal area stretches along the northeastern border of Salzburg with the ...
, Upper Austria) was discovered using modern geophysical methods. With a total volume of 4.3 billion cubic metres of natural gas, this was one of the largest gas discoveries in Austria. In 1977, the largest annual production was achieved with almost 880 million cubic metres of natural gas. In 2018, the annual production was 135 million cubic metres of natural gas. , Turnover = 509.4 million euros (2018)
Natural gas reservoirs
Austria has geological structures that are suitable for natural gas storage (
underground storage
An underground storage tank (UST) is, according to United States federal regulations, a storage tank, including any underground piping connected to the tank, that has at least 10 percent of its volume underground.
Definition & Regulation in U.S ...
). Since 1982, RAG has been using former natural gas reservoirs as natural gas storage facilities, thus increasing the security of supply with natural gas. RAG now uses more than 50% of its former natural gas reservoirs as underground storage facilities. The Puchkirchen gas field near
Timelkam
Timelkam is a municipality in the district of Vöcklabruck in the Austrian state of Upper Austria
Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borde ...
was successively converted into an underground gas storage facility from the 1980s onwards, and in 1995 the first commercial large-scale storage facility went into operation with a storage volume of 500 million cubic metres. The current capacity in combination with the Haag storage facility is around 1.080 billion cubic metres of natural gas (2019). After extensions in 1995 and 2002, the current capacity is around 860 million cubic metres of natural gas. By 2010, including the Haag gas field at Hausruck approx. 20 km north of the existing storage facility, capacity was increased to 1.1 billion cubic metres of natural gas.
In May 2007, the Haidach storage facility at Straßwalchen went into operation, a collaboration project with the partners Gazprom Export and Wingas. Following an expansion in 2011, Haidach has now a storage volume of 2.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas. Haidach is the second largest storage facility in Central Europe. With the 7Fields natural gas storage facility, further former natural gas reservoirs have been adapted for use as underground storage facilities. 7Fields is a collaboration project between RAG and the German company Uniper (former EON Gas Storage). As with the Haidach storage facility, RAG acted as planner, constructor and technical operator. Marketing is carried out by RAG Energy Storage (RES) and Uniper. After a construction period of two years, the first expansion stage (Zagling storage facility near Straßwalchen and Nussdorf with a combined volume of around 1.2 billion cubic metres) was completed in April 2011 and the second expansion stage (Oberkling/Pfaffstätt storage facility south-west of
Mattighofen
Mattighofen is a town in the district of Braunau am Inn, part of the Innviertel region, in the Austrian state of Upper Austria.
History
Initially Mattighofen belonged to the stem duchy of Bavaria, that became a part of Francia. In 757 a Kaiserpfa ...
) in April 2014. Following further capacity adjustments, the storage volume is now around 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
Recent company development
In order to meet the demands of a decarbonised future, two companies emerged from Rohöl-Aufsuchungs AG in 2018: RAG Austria AG and RAG Exploration & Production GmbH. RAG Austria AG focuses on the core business of gas storage as well as new energy technologies (“Underground Sun Storage”, “Underground Sun Conversion”), develops and expands them. Further business areas are the production, supply and trading of gas as well as the use and marketing of gas as a fuel (CNG, LNG). RAG Exploration & Production GmbH is dedicated to the exploration and production of
crude oil
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...
.
Business Areas
Gas production
Natural gas is produced from reservoirs in Upper Austria and Salzburg. In addition, RAG is conducting research on the production of renewable gas in the Underground Sun Conversion project.
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, an ...
produced from
wind
Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...
and
solar energy
Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essenti ...
is converted into renewable gas underground in natural reservoirs using
microorganisms
A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...
and can thus be stored there in large quantities. RAG also implements geothermal projects and thus uses
geothermal energy
Geothermal energy is the thermal energy in the Earth's crust which originates from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of materials in currently uncertain but possibly roughly equal proportions. The high temperature and pres ...
.
Energy storage
RAG's current core business is the large-scale storage of gaseous energy (methane, hydrogen) in natural underground reservoirs. The gas storage facilities operated by RAG, with a working gas volume of around six billion cubic metres, serve to ensure security of supply in Austria and Europe.
Supply
The storage facilities and storage services of RAG are part of the
critical infrastructure
Critical infrastructure (or critical national infrastructure (CNI) in the UK) is a term used by governments to describe assets that are essential for the functioning of a society and economy – the infrastructure. Most commonly associated wit ...
of Austria according to Directive 2008/114/EC of the Council of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
. RAG provides its services all year round and without interruption. From its own production, RAG supplies regional natural gas and geothermal energy independent of imports. RAG also operates its own CNG and LNG filling stations.
Natural gas vehicles – LNG and CNG
Since 2017, RAG has been operating Austria's first LNG filling station in Ennshafen near
Linz
Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846.
In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...
. The natural gas comes, among other things, from domestic RAG natural gas reservoirs and is processed in RAG's own LNG facility in Gampern in Upper Austria, where about two tons of LNG are produced per day. This corresponds to a refuelling of 10-15 trucks per day. In 2019, Austria's second LNG filling station was opened in Feldkirchen near Graz. F. Leitner Mineralöle and RAG Austria AG invested a total of 1.5 million Euros in this project. With a storage capacity of 50 cubic metres of LNG, the facility is the largest in Austria.
New technologies
RAG is developing sustainable technologies to store renewable energy (sun, wind) and thus make it available to consumers efficiently and on a large scale. Energy supply should be guaranteed throughout the year, especially during seasonal fluctuations due to peak in demand during longer periods of darkness or low water. In 2018 RAG invested 6.9 million euros in research and development.
''RAG Sustainability Report.''
''rag-austria.at.'' Retrieved June 13, 2020.
In 2013, the research project “Underground Sun Storage”, supported by the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund, demonstrated that hydrogen produced from renewable energies via electrolysis can be stored in natural gas reservoirs. The follow-up project “Underground Sun Conversion”, which was started in 2017, takes a significant step forward. Since 2018 in a test facility in Pilsbach (Upper Austria), hydrogen, which is produced from renewable electricity in a power-to-gas facility, has been injected together with CO2 into a natural gas reservoir at a depth of over 1,000 metres. This unique method recreates the process by which natural gas originates, but shortens it by millions of years – like geological history in fast motion. Converting the energy, increasing the energy density and storing it take place out of sight, in porous rock formations at depths of over 1,000 metres. There, naturally occurring microorganisms produce natural gas that can be stored directly and withdrawn at any time as required. This is a reproduction of the natural process of natural gas production within a few weeks. In this way, renewable energies can be stored and a sustainable, CO2-neutral carbon cycle
The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere of the Earth. Carbon is the main component of biological compounds as well as ...
is created in existing infrastructure. The project is scheduled for completion in 2021.
“Underground Sun Conversion” is also supported by the Austrian Government
The Government of Austria (german: Bundesregierung der Republik Österreich) is the executive cabinet of the Republic of Austria. It consists of the chancellor, who is the head of government, the vice chancellor and the ministers.
Appointme ...
's Climate and Energy Fund as a lead project in energy research with 5 million Euros. The Austrian consortium is headed by RAG. Project partners are: University of Leoben
The University of Leoben (German: ''Montanuniversität Leoben'') in Austria is the country's university for mining, metallurgy and materials.
It was founded on 4 November 1840 as the ''Steiermärkisch-Ständische Montanlehranstalt'' in Vordernbe ...
, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences in Vienna (Department IFA Tulln), ACIB GmbH (Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology), Energy Institute at the Johannes Kepler University Linz
The Johannes Kepler University Linz (German: ''Johannes Kepler Universität Linz'', short: ''JKU'') is a public institution of higher education in Austria. It is located in Linz, the capital of Upper Austria. It offers bachelor's, master's, d ...
and Axiom Angewandte Prozesstechnik GmbH.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:RoholAufsuchungs AG
Companies based in Vienna
Oil and gas companies of Austria