Austrian economic news in a flash

(The most important economic news in Austria from 8 October)
 
Champaigne maker Schlumberger holds 6.64% of its own share capital, corresponding to 9.95% of the voting rights in the company.
*
Utility Verbund has started the construction of a pumped storage hydro power station in Möllta, in Carinthia. The plant, to be completed in the autumn of 2014, is to have capacity of 430 MW and value of about EUR 358m. 
*
The final decision on the Nabucco gas pipeline project, led by OMV, will not be taken before 2011, Michael Ulbrich at OMV told Der Standard. German utility RWE, which also participates in the project, also confirmed the delay.
*
OMV laid the foundation stone for a new gas power station in northern Turkey. The plant, with capacity of 870 MW, will cost some EUR 600m. It will come on stream in 2012, at time for the expected bottleneck in the country's electricity consumption.
*
Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska will demand a postponement of the 15 October deadline for the repurchase of his stake in Austrian builder Strabag, Die Presse reported. The stake, which was pledged as collateral for a bank loan, will be repurchased in exchange for shares in Transstroj and Glavstroj, Deripaska's own construction firms, the report claims.
*
Athena Burgenland Beteiligungen AG, a fund part of province-owned Wirtschaftsservice Burgenland AG, envisages to divest its 27.53% stake in Internet media company webfreetv.com. The latter's shares are to be delisted from the Vienna Stock Exchange as of October 31.
*
Austria's exports rose 13.6% on the year to EUR 61.13bn in January to July 2010, while imports grew 12.5% to EUR 62.84bn. This resulted in a trade deficit of EUR 1.71bn for the period, Statistik Austria said.