Spills management

Oil spills¹Oil spills are defined as hydrocarbon liquid spills that reach the environment. are a critical environmental issue for our industry. Spills management is defined as the prevention of spills in operations and other spills (e.g., caused by sabotage or natural hazards), and the management and remediation of spills resulting from an incident.

Stakeholders with major concerns relating to potential impacts stemming from spills are as follows:

• Government authorities: potential breaches of environmental regulations
• Employees and contractors: potential health and safety issues arising from accidents and damage to the environment and society
• NGOs/NPOs: potential damage to the environment and society
• Society: damage to the surrounding environment
• Shareholders: direct financial losses due to the costs of remediation measures and reputational risks

Spill prevention

Spill prevention and control measures include:

• Hazard identification and risk assessment
• Preventive measures and maintenance to avoid leaks
• Emergency response and contingency plans including materials and equipment for spill intervention
• Cleanup and remediation procedures

We aim to prevent and reduce oil spills and leakage in our operations at sea as well as on land. Appropriate spill prevention and control plans that account for specific business conditions have been put in place. The majority of our oil spills involve OMV Petrom Upstream, where we concentrate our efforts to safeguard and maintain our infrastructure and to improve the reliability of our facilities.

The remuneration of the Company’s executive management is linked to OMV’s oil spill performance. The number and volume of oil spills constitute a part of the sustainability multiplier that impacts their annual bonus as decided by the Supervisory Board. Hydrocarbon spills are documented and reported using OMV’s incident reporting tool. The data input for the sustainability multiplier, including the number of spills and their volume, is audited externally as part of the scope of the Sustainability Report audit. (More information is provided in the Sustainability governance section.)

Spill remediation

Hydrocarbon spills are assessed and cleaned up immediately after their occurrence in accordance with internal procedures governing spill remediation. Leaks are repaired immediately or within defined time frames in accordance with the site’s maintenance processes and based on the risk assessment outcome and other factors, such as feasibility of repair during operation. In order to strengthen our response to and reduce the environmental impact of oil spills, we continued to perform emergency drills, including pollution scenarios.

In 2019, we recorded one major hydrocarbon spill in Romania (2018: two major spills).

In OMV Petrom’s Moldova asset, a tank containing a mixture of salt water and oil leaked due to poor mechanical integrity. Approximately 2 m³ of oil and 18 m³ of salt water leaked onto the ground over an area measuring approximately 200 m². Tank farm operations were stopped, fluids spilled into secondary containment and an underground rainwater sump tank were collected by vacuum trucks, and contaminated soil was excavated and transported to a bioremediation plant.

Total volume of spills

In m³

In addition, 2,046 minor releases occurred in 2019 (2018: 2,182). Total hydrocarbon spillage was around 56.6 m³ (2018: around 36.9 m³). Spills and leaks were mainly due to the corrosion of aging infrastructure.

OMV has developed a Corrosion Management Framework (CMF) to provide a proactive and consistent approach to corrosion monitoring and management across the entire OMV Group. Covering the full life cycle of the equipment exposed to the risk of corrosion in both oil and gas facilities from the well to the sales point, this framework encompasses the entire value chain of our business. A team of 30 in-house experts with multidisciplinary and multicultural backgrounds are working to embed CMF principles into everyday operations.

In 2019, we continued to implement the OMV Petrom Pipeline Integrity Management Program, which demonstrated significant results from multi-year data collection and software implementation. Risks are prioritized using the software, thereby ensuring that our pipeline integrity efforts focus on the locations with the greatest need. As a result of the Pipeline Integrity Management Program, OMV Petrom also increased the use of non-metallic pipeline materials in new projects to prevent corrosion and the risk of pipeline-related spills.

The Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) Program at OMV Petrom also continued in 2019, resulting in completion of 25 studies reviewing and updating all of the required technical documentation in order to identify operational risks carrying potential hazards for personnel, equipment, or the environment. So far, 225 facilities have participated, and 20 more facilities are scheduled to be included in the HAZOP study in 2020.