Portfolio Developments

Despite COVID 19-related restrictions, OMV made good progress in the implementation of the OMV Strategy 2025. Nawara was successfully started up in Tunisia, and in Malaysia the GoLaBa (Gorek, Larak and Bakong) fields were commissioned. In the United Arab Emirates, the Umm Lulu Super Complex was brought into full field mode. Additionally, the portfolio was streamlined by the sale of OMV Petrom’s operations in Kazakhstan, and progress was made toward divesting an asset in New Zealand. Furthermore, OMV embarked on the divestment of its oil assets in Malaysia, which are now classified as held for sale. The transaction is expected to close in 2021.

Central and Eastern Europe

In 2020, we continued to optimize the portfolio in Romania. OMV Petrom signed an agreement to sell 40 onshore oil and gas fields in Southern Romania, together producing around 1,100 boe/d. In addition, OMV Petrom signed the transaction for the sale of its operations in Kazakhstan consisting of production licenses for four onshore fields. The closing of the transaction is subject to certain conditions precedent (including authority approval) and is expected for the first half of 2021. Following a successful bidding process, negotiations began on a production-sharing contract for Offshore Exploration Block II in the Republic of Georgia and are estimated to be finalized in the first quarter of 2021.

The global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic made 2020 an extremely challenging year from an operational point of view. Nevertheless, OMV Petrom managed to maintain uninterrupted production, construction, workover, and turnaround operations. Due to the difficult market environment ushered in by the pandemic, fewer new wells and sidetracks were drilled in 2020 compared to the previous year (63 vs. 100). In September, planned maintenance activities took place in the Hurezani production area.

In Austria, the largest ground-mounted photovoltaic plant was constructed in Schönkirchen-Reyersdorf in partnership with VERBUND. This will reduce OMV’s CO₂ emissions by around 10,000 t per year.

Middle East and Africa

For the Middle East and Africa region, 2020 was a challenging year marked by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the tense security situation in Libya and Yemen, social unrest in Tunisia, and the impact of the OPEC+ quota in the United Arab Emirates. Operations continued safely nevertheless, HSSE performance was outstanding, projects went ahead, and production was maintained at levels permitted by the prevailing conditions.

In Libya, production came to a halt for the larger part of the year due to the political instability on the ground, which resulted in the shut-down of oil export terminals between January and October. Production resumed and steadily ramped up in the last two months of the year, almost returning to previous levels.

The most significant effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on projects and activities in the region were delays of the Ghasha concession development in the United Arab Emirates and the Khor Mor development in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). Workover activities in Yemen also had to be discontinued and thus depressed production levels. However, despite these challenges, OMV successfully managed to continue its operations in Yemen and Tunisia, and began commercial natural gas production at Nawara in March.

In line with the strategy to pursue further growth options in the region, OMV signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Sonatrach, the national state-owned company of Algeria, in July. The MoU covers the identification of potential upstream opportunities where the two parties could jointly invest in exploration or development and production projects in Algeria. The MoU underscores the interest of both companies in investigating collaboration options following the passing of a new Algerian Hydrocarbon Law.

North Sea

In 2020, the Norwegian authorities approved the plan for development and operation of the Hywind project, which will contribute to reducing emissions from the Snorre and Gullfaks oil and gas fields. They also introduced a tax incentive scheme allowing immediate expensing of CAPEX, including a 24% uplift for the special petroleum tax in 2020 and 2021. The Wisting and Iris/Hades projects will both benefit from this rule.

Russia

In March 2020, OMV signed an amendment to the basic sale agreement on the potential acquisition of a 24.98% interest in the Achimov 4A/5A phase development. This foresees an extension of the negotiation phase for the final transaction documents on a non-exclusive basis until June 2022. In these negotiations, material developments and changes in circumstances up to signing (including the planned start of production of Achimov 4A/5A) are to be taken into account by the parties in good faith. This relates in particular to the economic effective date and the purchase price.

Asia-Pacific

SapuraOMV, the strategic partnership formed with Sapura Energy Berhad (“Sapura Energy”), delivered substantial incremental production from the Phase 1 development (Gorek, Larak, and Bakong fields) of the SK408 Production Sharing Contract (PSC) in 2020. This increased SapuraOMV’s production to over 30 kboe/d.

SapuraOMV made progress on the development of its other discovered resources, which include SK408’s Jerun and Teja fields and SK310’s B14 field. This effort culminated in the final investment decision by SapuraOMV’s Board of Directors for the Jerun project in December 2020.

SapuraOMV secured several new exploration permits in Australia to maintain a robust exploration portfolio for future growth of the business in the region.

In 2020, OMV embarked on the divestment of its oil assets in Malaysia, which were reclassified as held for sale. The transaction is expected to close in 2021.

OMV New Zealand is prioritizing the redevelopment and optimization of the existing Maui and Pohokura natural gas assets. Major infill drilling campaigns on both assets also advanced during 2020, and drilling started in Maui. OMV New Zealand will invest around NZD 500 mn (EUR 270 mn) over the next two years to rejuvenate production in the Maui and Pohokura natural gas fields.

A new hydrocarbon discovery in the Taranaki Basin in 2020 that needs to be appraised and confirmed in 2022, could potentially bring new hydrocarbon volumes to market in the 2025–2027 timeframe.

Divestment by OMV New Zealand of its 69% share of the Maari field to Jadestone Energy is expected to be completed in early 2021. Average production from the asset in 2020 was 4 kboe/d net to OMV (in 2019: 5 kboe/d).