Crack and Explosion Show Risks of Europe's Aging Energy Networks
- A blast in Austria and a faulty pipe in Britain hobble systems
- With temperatures falling, prices spike on supply concerns
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Just before 9 a.m. Tuesday, the gray skies over the far eastern reaches of Austria lit up with an explosion at a natural gas switching station, killing one worker, injuring almost two dozen others--and sending shockwaves through Europe’s energy supply infrastructure.
The blast in Baumgarten, a village about a mile from the border with Slovakia, generated a fireball so hot that it melted the plastic on cars parked half a kilometer away. With about 10 percent of Europe’s gas needs passing through the station, the wholesale price of the fuel spiked by 23 percent, to its highest level in four years, as cold weather settled over much of the Continent.