OMV/EconGas Update: Resumption of Russian Natural Gas Deliveries to OMV Baumgarten Gas Turntable
January 20, 2009 - 7.30pm (CET)
After the suspension of Russian natural gas deliveries to the Baumgarten gas turntable as of January 7, 2009, by now 100% of ordinary gas delivery levels has arrived. According to expert estimates, this marks an important step towards the normalization of the situation.
OMV has been able to overcome the gas shortfall of the past few days well. Werner Auli, Member of the OMV Executive Board responsible for the Gas & Power business, commented: “We have guaranteed our customers full gas supply around the clock. Our investments in the expansion of our gas storage facilities and of our domestic gas production aimed at safeguarding supply security have paid off.” As the leading energy group in Central and Eastern Europe based in Vienna, OMV has demonstrated once again that it can live up to its role of supply guarantor with great responsibility.
At the beginning of January 2009, OMV subsidiary EconGas had storage reserves of a total volume of approximately 1.7 bcm. In order to guarantee gas supply, storage reserves were made available in their entirety and delivered via the Austrian pipeline system. The shortfall of Russian natural gas could be fully compensated through the company’s own storage reserves.
Background information
Austrian gas consumption and import volume:
Austrian gas consumption amounts to around 8 bcm per year. Approximately 51% of this volume comes from Russia, 31% from Norway and other countries and 18% from Austrian own production. With its Austrian production of 1.31 bcm per year, OMV meets 16% of the domestic gas demand.
OMV Gas & Power GmbH
OMV Gas & Power GmbH is the leading OMV company in the gas and power business area. Its activities include Gas Supply, Marketing and Trading (with the subsidiaries EconGas and the Petrom gas activities), Gas Logistics (with the subsidiaries OMV Gas, Nabucco Gas Pipeline International, Adria LNG, Gate terminal in Rotterdam) and the Central European Gas Hub making it one of the leading gas trading and logistics companies in Central Europe. OMV Gas has natural gas storage facilities for a total volume of 2.1 bcm. Following the entry into the power business and the resulting expansion of the value generation chain, a new business area Power (with the subsidiary OMV Power International) has been established.
In the Gas Supply, Marketing and Trading business area OMV Gas and EconGas sold 7.8 bcm of gas in 2007, with a further 5.3 bcm coming from Petrom Gas. Apart from Austria, natural gas is transported via OMV pipelines to Germany, Italy, France, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary, making the OMV gas logistics business area an important component of the European natural gas network and a central gas hub in Europe. The Central European Gas Hub handled a trading volume of 17.7 bcm of gas in 2007 and is thus one of the most important trading platforms in continental Europe.
EconGas GmbH:
EconGas is a joint venture of OMV Gas & Power, EVN, WIEN ENERGIE, EGBV, BEGAS and Linz AG. Its core business is the direct sale of natural gas to business customers with an annual consumption of more than 500,000 cbm in Austria and Europe, as well as gas trading on international markets. EconGas is based in Austria and has subsidiaries in Germany, Italy and Hungary. EconGas has storage facilities for a total volume of 2.2 bcm in Austria. At the beginning of this year storage reserves amounted to a total volume of 1.7 bcm.
OMV Aktiengesellschaft:
With Group sales of EUR 20.04 bn and a workforce of 33,665 employees in 2007, OMV Aktiengesellschaft is one of Austria’s largest listed industrial companies. As the leading oil and gas group in Central Europe, OMV is active in Refining and Marketing (R&M) in 13 countries. In Exploration and Production (E&P) OMV is active in 20 countries on five continents. OMV Gas & Power (G&P) sells more than 13 bcm gas a year. Via Baumgarten, one of the most important gas turntables in Europe, approximately 64 bcm gas is transported annually. OMV’s Central European Gas Hub is amongst the three largest trading platforms in continental Europe.
OMV is the largest oil and gas group in Central Europe, with oil and gas reserves of approx. 1.22 bn boe, daily production of around 316,000 boe and an annual refining capacity of 26 mn t. OMV has 2,524 filling stations in 13 countries. The market share of the group in the R&M business segment in the Danube Region is now 20%.
OMV further strengthened its leading position in the European growth belt through the acquisition of 41.58% of Petrol Ofisi, Turkey’s leading company in the retail and commercial business.
In June 2006, OMV has established the OMV Future Energy Fund, a wholly owned subsidiary, to support projects in renewable energy with more than EUR 100 mn. In this way OMV aims at initiating the switch from a pure oil and gas group to an energy group with renewable energy in its portfolio.
OMV: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
OMV is a member of the U.N. Global Compact and actively committed to the values enshrined in its Code of Conduct. These include a strong sense of responsibility towards the social and natural environment in economically weak regions. OMV works hard to address economic, environmental and social issues related to its operations. Its CSR activities are fully documented in biannual performance reports compiled according to Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. The "Global 100 Ranking" presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos 2008 ranks OMV as one of the six most sustainable energy companies worldwide.