OMV unit launches green gas trading platform in Austria

Central European Gas Hub AG (CEGH), part of oil and gas group OMV AG (VIE:OMV), has launched a platform for the marketing of green gases, such as biogas and hydrogen, in Austria which will be expanded to other countries in Central and Eastern Europe in the future.

Initially, the CEGH GreenGas Platform will be a marketplace for biogas and will enable the purchase and sale of biomethane with or without guarantees of origin, CEGH said on Monday. Once green hydrogen is available on the market, it will be traded on the platform.

"The CEGH GreenGas Platform is the right step towards a pioneering future for the gas industry. In addition to the diversification of natural gas sources, green gases are absolutely important for security of supply in Austria," said OMV's deputy chief executive Johann Pleininger.

The availability of green gases is expected to grow considerably in the next years and reach 5 TWh in 2030 compared with the 0.1 TWh of biomethane that is being fed into the Austrian network currently.

In the initiative, CEGH is cooperating with the European Energy Exchange (EEX) which last week unveiled a plan to establish a trading market for hydrogen.

CEGH, in which the Vienna Stock Exchange and Slovakian gas grid operator Eustream a.s hold minority stakes, claims to be operating the largest gas trading place in Central and Eastern Europe with a total trading volume of 749 TWh in 2021.

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