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, there is either no present obligation and/or the outflow is remote and/or they will not materially affect the Group’s financial position.

OMV entered into guarantees as part of the ordinary course of the group’s business, mainly under credit facilities granted by banks, without cash collateral. No material losses are likely to arise from such. Further information on financial guarantees are included in Note 28 – Risk Management.

OMV holds a 10% share in Pearl Petroleum Company Ltd. (Pearl) following an acquisition through a Share Sales Agreement of May 2009 (SSA). OMV was faced with a pending arbitration proceeding since 2020 (under the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) rules) launched by Crescent and Dana in respect of certain reserve-based contingent payments and alleged unjustified enrichment based on the SSA. In a final binding arbitral award of February 2023 the LCIA tribunal ruled in favor of OMV rejecting those claims and stating that there is no entitlement of Dana and Crescent of a contingent payment by OMV.

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. There were no additional requests from authorities in 2021 and 2022, but the investigation is not yet finalized. 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.

As of December 31, 2022, one other proceeding was pending against OMV related to local service contractors in one of the subsidiaries. OMV’s share of claimed amount is around USD 330 mn. Management currently does not believe that any of the alleged matters will have a material effect on the financial position or results of operations. However, this assessment is based on assumptions deemed reasonable by management including those about future events and uncertainties. The outcome of these matters is ultimately uncertain, such that unanticipated events and circumstances might occur that might cause management to change those assumptions and give rise to a material adverse effect on our financial position in the future.