27 – Contingent liabilities

OMV recognizes provisions for litigations if these are more likely than not to result in obligations. Management is of the opinion that litigations, to the extent not covered by provisions or insurance, will not materially affect the Group’s financial position.

The production facilities and properties of all Group companies are subject to a variety of environmental protection laws and regulations in the countries where they operate. The estimated cost of known environmental obligations has been provided in accordance with the Group’s accounting policies. Provisions for decommissioning and restoration are recognized if an obligation exists at the statement of financial position date.

Management believes that compliance with current laws and regulations and future more stringent laws and regulations will not have a material negative impact on the Group’s results, financial position or cash flows in the near future.

In May 2009, OMV signed an agreement with the sellers Crescent Petroleum International Limited (Crescent) and Dana Gas PJSC (Dana) to acquire a 10% share in Pearl Petroleum Company Limited (Pearl), a company that operates Khor Mor and Chemchemal gas fields in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The agreement included contingent payments to be made by OMV which are dependent on further reserves determinations. The reserves determinations will have to be made by jointly appointed independent expert.

In this connection, in May 2019, OMV received an invoice from Crescent and Dana amounting to approximately USD 241 mn and later unsubstantiated and rejected allegations of damages in an amount of up to more than one billion USD. OMV rejected the invoice due to at the time pending independent expert determination before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and arbitrations before the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) regarding inter alia revisions of the Field Development Plan (FDP) of the Chemchemal gas field and a revision of the FDP of

Khor Mor, which were not approved at joint venture level, and the deviating views between Crescent/Dana and OMV inter alia about the size of an oil discovery in Khor Mor. In September 2019, the independent expert determination before the ICC in respect of one of the revisions of the Chemchemal FDP was decided in favor of OMV and the arbitration tribunal deemed the expert determination as final and binding. In June 2020, a second independent expert determination before the ICC in respect of another revision of the Chemchemal FDP was also decided in favor of OMV. Depending on further progress of the arbitration proceedings and not yet commenced reserve determinations under the Share Sale Agreement arbitration, a contingent payment could potentially arise; however, such event is not deemed probable at this stage. Therefore, no provision has been recognized in OMV’s Group Financial Statements. Furthermore, at the date of these financial statements, a reliable estimate of the potential additional payment, if any, cannot be made.

On April 16, 2020, the Bulgarian Commission for Protection of Competition announced the initiation of an investigation regarding the determination of the prices on fuel market. OMV Bulgaria EOOD is subject to this investigation, among other major manufacturers and retailers on Bulgarian market. During 2020 two requests of providing information were received from authorities and the responses were submitted in due time. The sanctions for antitrust infringements are up to 10% of the total company’s turnover of the respective undertaking for the financial year prior to the sanctioning decision. At the date of these financial statements, OMV is not able to evaluate the outcome of the investigation and no provision was recorded in this respect.