RAG Austria AG

RAG Austria AG
legal form	Corporation
founding	October 15, 1935
Seat	Vienna , Austria
management	Markus Mitteregger, CEO ; Michael Längle, CFO ; Kurt Sonnleitner, CTO ; Chairman of the Supervisory Board Stefan Szyszkowitz (EVN)
Number of employees	196 (2020)
sales	509.4 million euros (2018)
Branch	Energy storage
Website	www.rag-austria.at

51.233333333333 6.7727777777778Coordinates: 51 ° 14 ′ 0 ″ N , 6 ° 46 ′ 22 ″ E

The RAG Austria AG (RAG) is the largest gas storage and therefore energy storage company in Austria. The company concentrates its business activities on the storage of natural gas and energy , the related management of existing natural gas deposits and reserves as well as the development and application of future-oriented gas technologies (e.g. research projects such as Underground Sun Storage and Underground Sun Conversion ). With around 6 billion cubic meters of natural gas, the company is one of the largest technical storage operators in Europe and thus makes a significant contribution to the security of supply in Austria and Central Europe. In joint ventures with Gazprom Export and Wingas, RAG operates the Haidach natural gas storage facility (Salzburg / Upper Austria) and, together with Uniper Energy Storage (formerly E.ON Gas Storage), the 7Fields storage facility (Salzburg / Upper Austria) and its own storage facility in Puchkirchen / Haag, Haidach 5, Aigelsbrunn, 7Fields (RAG). The production and use of gas as a fuel ( LNG , CNG ) are also RAG's business areas.

The shareholders are Energieversorgung Niederösterreich (EVN) (50.025%), Uniper (29.975%), Energie Steiermark Kunden GmbH (10%) and Salzburg AG (10%).

history

The company was founded in 1935 as Rohöl -gewinnungs AG by Socony-Vacuum Oil , Inc. (now Exxon Mobil Corporation) and NVde Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij (now Royal Dutch Shell ). In 1937 the first major oil discovery was made with the RAG II probe about two kilometers north of Zistersdorf . In 1936 and 1937, the company secured the greater part of the Vienna Basin with 7,000 free mining rights .

When, after the State Treaty of 1956, the ÖMV, which emerged from the Soviet Mineral Oil Administration , began to dominate in Eastern Austria, the RAG gradually shifted the focus of its production to Upper Austria .

Zistersdorf oil field and Soviet occupation

In 1938, with the development of the Gaiselberg oil field, the oil discovery that made the town of Zistersdorf the epitome of the oil wealth of the Vienna basin. The oil-bearing layers of the Gaiselberg field, located just under one kilometer southwest of Zistersdorf, extend over an area of only about 2.5 km², but there are a number of oil-bearing layers on top of each other along a geological fracture (the so-called Steinbergbruch ) 800 m to almost 2400 m.

In the time of the " connection " of Austria by Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945, RAG was listed as "enemy property" by a German asset manager on. In the period of Soviet occupation of Eastern Austria between 1945 and 1955, the RAG was de facto not nationalized, despite a 1946 decision, but most of the drilling rig was brought to the USSR as spoils of war and the entire production had to be given to the Soviet Mineral Oil Administration . This also resulted in a restriction of the production rights in the Vienna Basin to the two oil fields RAG / Gösting and Gaiselberg that existed before 1945, which remained even after the Soviet occupation forces withdrew in 1955.

However, in 1948 and 1951, RAG received research contracts from the Federal Geological Institute in what was then the US occupation zone in Upper Austria . With a new deep drilling rig, the first major oil discovery in Austria outside of the Vienna Basin was made in May 1956 near Puchkirchen . The following years were rather sobering. Only at Ried im Innkreis was a major oil field discovered in 1959.

Concessions in Upper Austria

In 1960 the RAG concession area in Upper Austria was extended to the area south of Wels . As early as 1962, the most productive Austrian oil field so far outside the Vienna Basin was discovered, in Voitsdorf in the municipality of Ried im Traunkreis . The field extends for around 10 km in an east-west direction and was developed via 43 boreholes, of which 10 were used for production in 2007. The north-south extension is just over a kilometer. More than 3 million tons of crude oil have so far been extracted from the two oil horizons lying in a depth of 2100 to 2200 m .

In the vicinity of the Voitsdorf field, further larger oil fields were developed by 1980: Eberstalzell (previous oil production approx. 500,000 tons; 3 probes active in 2012), Engenfeld (approx. 150,000 tons; 2012 one active probe), Oberaustall (approx. 200,000 tons; 2012 1 active probe), Sattledt (approx. 1 million tons, 6 active probes in 2012) and Steinhaus (approx. 200,000 tons; one active probe in 2012).

In 1968, with 419,118 tons of crude oil, the highest annual production in the company's history was achieved, more than half of which came from the Voitsdorf field. After that, oil production declined and in 2005 reached its preliminary low point with only 75,275 tons. Since then, production has increased through the discovery of larger deposits in Hiersdorf west of Wartberg an der Krems as well as near Bad Hall and Sierning to 123,704 tons (15% of Austrian oil production) in 2011, of which 104,204 tons from the foothills of Upper Austria and 19,500 tons from the two fields Zistersdorf came from.

A total of around 50 oil and gas fields have so far been developed by RAG in Austria. As a result of the rise in oil prices , the relatively expensive development of oil deposits in Austria has been intensified again in recent years. After 2000, this led to several large oil discoveries in the eastern concession area around the spa town of Bad Hall.

Natural gas production

In the 1970s, the development of natural gas reservoirs became more important. In western Upper Austria in particular, around 15 km on either side of a line from Kremsmünster to Burghausen , a large number of medium-sized and smaller natural gas deposits were discovered, mostly at depths of 500 m to 1500 m. In 1997, the Haidach natural gas deposit (Straßwalchen, Upper Austria) was found using modern geophysical methods. With a total volume of 4.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas, it was one of the largest gas discoveries in Austria. In 1977 the largest annual production was achieved with almost 880 million cubic meters of natural gas. In 2018, the annual production was 135 million cubic meters of natural gas. | Revenue = 509,400,000 Euro (2018)

Natural gas storage

Austria has geological structures that are suitable for natural gas storage (underground storage). RAG has been using former natural gas storage facilities as natural gas storage facilities since 1982, thereby increasing the security of supply with natural gas. RAG now uses more than 50% of its former natural gas storage facilities as underground storage . The Puchkirchen gas field near Timelkam was gradually converted into an underground gas storage facility from the 1980s, and in 1995 the first large commercial storage facility went into operation with a storage volume of 500 million cubic meters. The capacity in connection with the Haag storage facility is currently around 1.080 billion cubic meters of natural gas (2019). After expansion in 1995 and 2002, the capacity is currently around 860 million cubic meters of natural gas. By 2010, including the Haag am Hausruck gas field, approx. 20 km north of the existing storage facility, the capacity was increased to 1.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

In May 2007 the Haidach storage facility went into operation near Straßwalchen , a joint project with partners Gazprom Export and Wingas. After an expansion in 2011, Haidach has 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 storage facilities were adapted for use as underground storage facilities. 7Fields is a joint project between RAG and the German Uniper. As with the Haidach storage facility, RAG acted as a planner and installer and is the technical operator. Marketing is carried out by RAG Energy Storage (RES) and Uniper . After two years of construction, the first stage of expansion (Zagling reservoir near Straßwalchen and Nussdorf with a total of around 1.2 billion cubic meters) was completed in April 2011, and the second stage of expansion (Oberkling / Pfaffstätt reservoir, southwest of Mattighofen ) in April 2014 . After further capacity adjustments, the storage volume is now around 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

Recent company development

In order to meet the requirements 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 them further and expands them. Further business areas are the extraction, 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.

Business areas

Gas production

Natural gas is extracted from the deposits in Upper Austria and Salzburg . In addition, RAG is researching the generation of renewable gas in the "Underground Sun Conversion" project. Hydrogen obtained from wind and solar energy is converted underground in natural storage facilities into renewable gas using microorganisms and can therefore be stored there in large quantities. RAG also implements geothermal projects and thus uses geothermal energy .

Energy storage

RAG's current core business is large-volume storage of gaseous energy ( methane , hydrogen ) in natural underground storage facilities. The gas storage facilities operated by RAG with around six billion cubic meters of working gas volume serve to ensure security of supply in Austria and Europe.

Supply

RAG's storage facilities and storage services are part of Austria's critical infrastructure in accordance with Directive 2008/114 / EC of the Council of the European Union. RAG provides its services all year round and without interruptions. RAG supplies regional natural gas and geothermal energy from its own production, regardless of imports. RAG also operates its own CNG and LNG filling stations.

Natural gas mobile - LNG and CNG

In the Ennshafen near Linz, RAG has been operating Austria's first LNG filling station since 2017. The natural gas comes from local RAG natural gas deposits and is processed in RAG's own LNG plant in Gampern, Upper Austria, where around two tons of LNG are produced per day. This corresponds to a refueling of 10–15 trucks per day. Austria's second LNG filling station was opened in Feldkirchen near Graz in 2019 . F. Leitner Mineralöle and RAG Austria invested a total of 1.5 million euros in this project. With a storage capacity of 50 cubic meters of LNG, the plant is the largest in Austria.

new technologies

RAG is working on the development of sustainable technologies in order to make renewable energy (sun, wind) storable and thus available to customers efficiently and in large quantities. The energy supply should be ensured during the increasing fluctuations, from the dark doldrums to low water . In 2018, RAG invested 6.9 million euros in research and development.

In 2013, the "Underground Sun Storage" research project funded by the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund proved that hydrogen obtained from renewable energies can be stored in natural gas reservoirs. The follow-up project "Underground Sun Conversion", which started in 2017, continues significantly. In a test facility in Pilsbach (Upper Austria), hydrogen, which is generated in a power-to-gas plant from renewable electricity, has been introduced together with CO2 into a natural gas reservoir at a depth of over 1,000 meters since 2018 . There naturally occurring microorganisms generate renewable natural gas, which can be stored directly and withdrawn at any time if required. This is a replica of the natural process of natural gas formation within a few weeks - drastically reduced in time. In this way, renewable energies can be stored and a sustainable, CO ₂ -neutral carbon cycle is created that uses the existing infrastructure. The project should be completed in 2021.

Underground Sun Conversion is also funded by the Austrian Federal Government's Climate and Energy Fund as a key project in energy research with EUR 5 million. The Austrian consortium is led by RAG. Project partners are: The Montan University Leoben , the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (Department IFA Tulln), the acib GmbH (Austrian Center of Industrial Biotechnology), the Energy Institute at the Johannes Kepler University Linz and the Axiom Angewandte Prozesstechnik GmbH.

Holdings

RAG Austria AG is involved in the following companies:

RAG Energy Storage GmbH (100%)
RAG Exploration & Production GmbH (100%)
Silenos Energy GmbH (50%) - geothermal energy

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ RAG homepage career. on: rag-austria.at , accessed on March 18, 2020.
↑ ^a ^b ^c facts and figures 2018 at: rag-austria.at , as of 2018.
↑ WKO sector report mineral oil industry 2018 at: wko.at , accessed on March 19, 2020.

↑ Press release Haidach natural gas storage facility on rag-austria.at, accessed on March 18, 2020.

↑ Energy in Austria 2019 at bmlrt.gv.at, accessed on March 18, 2020

↑ Storage facilities at rag-austria.at, accessed on March 18, 2020.

↑ Austria stores more gas on ORF from April 1, 2014, accessed on April 1, 2014.

↑ Press release LNG filling station on rag-austria.at, accessed on March 19, 2020.

↑ RAG sustainability report at rag-austria.at, accessed on March 19, 2020.

[mitarbeiter-1] RAG homepage career. on: rag-austria.at , accessed on March 18, 2020.

[fakt-2] facts and figures 2018 at: rag-austria.at , as of 2018.

[3] WKO sector report mineral oil industry 2018 at: wko.at , accessed on March 19, 2020.

[4] Press release Haidach natural gas storage facility on rag-austria.at, accessed on March 18, 2020.

[jahresfoerderung-5] Energy in Austria 2019 at bmlrt.gv.at, accessed on March 18, 2020

[6] Storage facilities at rag-austria.at, accessed on March 18, 2020.

[7] Austria stores more gas on ORF from April 1, 2014, accessed on April 1, 2014.

[8] Press release LNG filling station on rag-austria.at, accessed on March 19, 2020.

[9] RAG sustainability report at rag-austria.at, accessed on March 19, 2020.