As reported, test drilling is to begin in Molln in the spring because a large gas deposit is suspected. There is resistance to the project in the community. What happens if natural gas is found under a property? Who owns the gas in such a case?
The TV soap opera “Dallas” is about the Texas Ewing family, who have built an empire of money, power and intrigue from the oil deposits under their property. In Austria, such a plot would be completely unrealistic.
Image: OÖN graphic
Because all the oil and natural gas that may still lie dormant under the soil of the republic belongs to the federal government, says law professor Erika Wagner, head of the Institute for Environmental Law at the Johannes Kepler University in Linz. This is what the so-called Mineral Raw Materials Act, a federal law, provides.
“Only the federal government is authorized to seek natural gas and appropriate it,” says Wagner. However, the federal government may leave the right to support and appropriation to third parties. “Against a statutory fee, a subsidy rate,” says the expert.
According to Wagner, the landowner has no say in the licensing process as long as no natural gas is being extracted. Even as long as no preparatory measures for funding happened, the landowner should not have a say.
However, the licensee must submit a work program to the authority, which contains the schedule of the work and the planned mining facilities. The authority then has to define the so-called extraction field, which contains details such as the location and size of the deposit and the type of development, the professor outlines the legal situation.
In the end, the operator needs a “mining facility” that requires a permit in order to actually be able to produce. Drilling from a depth of 300 meters also requires such a permit. It is only in this phase of the process that owners, neighbors and anyone who is potentially at risk have a say. “The actual resident procedure in Molln is still pending.” There must be “no impairment of the environment that goes beyond the reasonable level”.
If the natural gas production exceeds a certain amount of cubic meters, then an environmental impact assessment must also be carried out. The local community, the environmental advocate and citizens’ initiatives or NGOs have a party position, says the expert.
The nature conservation requirements would also have to be checked. Interventions in a Natura 2000 protected area such as the Kalkalpen National Park are generally not permitted “if they have negative effects on the protected area’s protected assets”. “If this is the case, then the project may only be approved if there is an overriding public interest in the project and the damage is compensated.”
The tasks of the mining authorities have repeatedly changed over the years: originally they were with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, then with the Department of Agriculture, then with the Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism. The Ministry of Finance has been responsible for this since July 2022.
Gas search in Molln: “Drilling only minor intervention in the ecosystem”
In Molln in the Upper Austrian Traunviertel, test drilling is to begin in the spring, as a large gas deposit is suspected. There is resistance to the project in the community. Dietmar Mascher appeases: “First of all, there has to be a test drilling. The company is only licensed for one exploration.”
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