Russian giant Gazprom and Austrian group OMV have signed a memorandum to jointly control the Austrian natural gas distribution center in Baumgarten in North Austria, Gazprom spokesman Sergey Kuprianov has said, quoted by Reuters. Kuprianov did not say, however, what the role Gazprom will have in the deal.

The memorandum was signed by Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller and OMV president Wolfang Ruttenstorfer during President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Austria.

Putin said on the occasion that some 30 contracts were concluded between the two states during the visit, involving mainly the energy and car-making sectors. The contracts have a total value of about 3 billion euro.

Putin assured Austria that Russia would continue to supply natural gas to the European country until 2027.

The new deal may raise a series of issues with a major project that Romania’s been involved in - the Nabucco gas transportation project linking Central Asia to the EU. The Nabucco project was due to avoid Russia by using another route that included Romania and Austria.

But during a visit to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan two weeks ago Putin said Central Asian gas would ultimately be transported through Russia.