CEO Statement

I am very pleased to be able to present to you our 15th Sustainability Report. In it, we describe our successes in environmental protection and carbon efficiency, and highlight our contribution to society.

In the past year, politicians and the public have come to expect a great deal more from oil and gas companies in terms of adapting their strategies. Climate activists have held numerous demonstrations demanding a faster and greater reduction of our carbon footprint. The capital markets are also increasingly calling on companies to report ESG goals. We face the challenge of supplying affordable energy to a growing global population and doing so in a responsible and carbon-efficient manner.

I am convinced that the necessary changes can only be made if governments, the public, and businesses work together. And I am equally confident that the way to achieve this goal is through technological innovation.

Oil and gas are essential for our lives today and will continue to be valuable resources in the future. They are needed as part of the reliable, modern energy mix necessary to ensure sustainable economic growth, preserve prosperity, and combat poverty.

“In addition to growing our long-term Company value, we also made substantial progress in repositioning OMV for a lower-carbon future.”

Many well-known research institutions expect worldwide demand for energy and high-quality petrochemicals, which are used to manufacture necessary products such as pharmaceuticals, plastics, and insulation, to grow. This is also the focus of our corporate strategy. We are concentrating on further diversifying our business – both geographically, by continuing to develop Asia as a new core region, and in terms of our product portfolio, by growing our natural gas activities. Several acquisitions and divestments were completed in 2019 with the aim of increasing the share of gas in the Upstream portfolio to 65% by 2025. In line with our objective “produce more valuable products, burn less,” we also acquired an equity stake in the Ruwais refinery with integrated petrochemical production in Abu Dhabi.

In terms of OMV’s sustainability achievements, I am pleased that we were able to further improve our workplace safety performance in 2019. This is the result of all of the efforts we have undertaken in recent years to enhance occupational health and safety. At the same time, we improved process safety and stepped up our activities in the fields of human rights protection and community engagement.

“This year, we will again review our climate protection goals and set even more ambitious targets. We will further diversify our product portfolio, offer customers more environmentally friendly products, and further expand our petrochemical business.”

We have pledged to reduce the carbon emissions of our operations, as well as the carbon footprint of our product portfolio in order to make a significant contribution to climate protection. As part of our Sustainability Strategy, we are continually working to limit our product portfolio’s impact on the environment. In 2019, for instance, we were able to reduce the carbon intensity of our energy supply by 2% from 70 g CO₂ to 68.6 g CO₂ per unit of energy (MJ) as compared with 2018.  In addition, we already achieved our 2025 carbon intensity targets ahead of schedule. This year, we will again review our climate protection goals and set even more ambitious targets. We will further diversify our product portfolio, offer customers more environmentally friendly products, and further expand our petrochemical business. Moreover, we are working on various options for using hydrogen – for transportation as well as industrial applications. In our circular economy project, our ReOil^® pilot facility recycled 100 t of plastic waste into synthetic crude oil in 2019. In 2025, we plan to recycle 200,000 t with this technology. This means we are well on the way to making synthetic crude into an economically viable product.

We were able to achieve these results above all thanks to the excellent work of our approximately 20,000 employees who work tirelessly and conscientiously to ensure the supply of energy and raw materials. More than 7,900 employees also dedicated their time and energy to protecting the environment and alleviating poverty by participating in volunteering activities like planting trees and providing food to people in need.

I am pleased that our sustainability leadership was again recognized by external rating agencies such as CDP, MSCI, ISS ESG, and Sustainalytics. They count OMV among the world’s best oil and gas companies. For the second consecutive year, we were the only Austrian company to be included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI World).

I can assure you that we will continue to put forth every effort to do business responsibly and innovatively to ensure a secure and low-carbon future. With the energy for a better life.