The partially state-owned oil, gas and chemicals group OMV did not earn nearly as well in 2023 as it did in the previous year, mainly due to the sharp drop in raw material prices – CEO Alfred Stern is still pleased with the second-best result in the company’s history and wants to show shareholders in addition to the increased regular earnings dividend of 2.95 euros per share, propose the distribution of a special dividend of 2.10 euros per share.
“2023 was another successful year for OMV, in which we achieved an excellent result despite considerable headwinds,” Stern said on Thursday, according to the statement. The CCS operating result before special items of around 6 billion euros (adjusted for inventory effects) is the second highest that has been achieved to date. A CCS operating result of EUR 1.43 billion was achieved in the fourth quarter of 2023, following EUR 2.10 billion in the final quarter of 2022.
Group sales fell by 37 percent
Group sales fell by 37 percent to 39.46 billion euros in 2023 – oil and gas prices were significantly lower than in the previous year: the average Brent price fell by 18 percent to 82.64 dollars (76.26 euros) per barrel , the average THE natural gas price (“Trading Hub Europe”) was only a third of the previous year’s value at 40.98 euros per megawatt hour.
At the same time, OMV’s total production fell by 7 percent to 364,000 barrels per day and production costs rose by 18 percent to $9.67 per barrel. Operating profit before special items fell by 46 percent to 4.357 billion euros. The CCS operating result before special items collapsed from 11.18 to 6.02 billion euros and the net profit shrank by almost two thirds to 1.9 billion euros.
$80 a barrel
For this year, OMV expects an average Brent crude oil price of $80 per barrel and an average realized natural gas price of around 25 euros per megawatt hour. The THE price (“Trading Hub Europe”) is expected to be between 30 and 35 euros per MWh.
On Wednesday, OMV also announced the sale of its half share in the Malaysian oil and gas company SapuraOMV to the French energy group TotalEnergies, which will bring in the equivalent of around 833 million euros. Investments of around 3.8 billion euros are planned for 2024, following 3.87 billion euros last year.
