“We will continue to invest massively in oil and gas until 2030 and will develop five new gas production facilities, for example in Norway or in the Black Sea, keyword Neptun,” said Stern in the “Delivery man“-Interview. “Out of €3.5 billion annually, we invest €1.6 billion in exploration & production.”
Slow energy transition
“We’re not getting out of energy, we’re just getting out of oil and gas,” Stern said. Gas is necessary as a bridging technology for the energy transition. They are currently not ready for a gas embargo – if Russian gas deliveries fail to materialize, economic activity in Austria could no longer be fully maintained. That’s why they’re currently working on a proposal for payment modalities with Gazprom that conform to the sanctions, on the other hand, the gas storage facilities are being filled – “we’re currently at 30 percent,” says the OMV boss. In addition, doing without Russian gas would also make it more expensive: “No more gas from Russia and low prices, that’s not possible.”
Gas from Norway
OMV sells the gas it produces in Norway to Germany. “But we have changed our sales logistics there and only sell at very short notice so that we have access to this gas in an emergency. But then we also need access to pipeline capacities.” Stern said it was lucky that the planned exchange of the OMV stake in Norway did not work out. Further depreciation may be necessary for the investment in the Russian gas field Yuzhno-Russkoye. “Depending on what else happens, there may be a need for further value adjustments, since we have not yet been able to write off Yuzhno completely.”
Oil embargo in Austria
Even an oil embargo would not leave Austria untouched, even though OMV no longer processes Russian oil in its refineries. “Russia produces 10 million barrels a day, that’s a tenth of world production, 50 percent of which is exported,” Stern said. “That’s a significant amount, the price difference between Brent and Urals crude is currently $30.” It is therefore to be expected that the oil price will remain high.
According to OMV, the refinery in Schwechat primarily processes oil from Kazakhstan. In principle, Russian oil would be easier to replace than gas because transport is not tied to pipelines – however, refineries are set up to process certain types of oil, which, depending on their origin, differ in terms of sulfur content (“sweetness”) or density (heavy oils or light oils ) can differ greatly. Converting a refinery to other types of oil would not be possible overnight and would require planning and significant investment.