Spills

Oil spills¹ Oil 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. Our key commitment is to prevent spills in the first place. If they do occur, we aim to reduce their impact by appropriate and fast oil spill response and clean-up.

Multiple stakeholder groups are affected by our spills management activities. Government authorities are involved through potential breaches of environmental regulations; employees and contractors through potential health and safety issues arising from accidents and damage to the environment and society; NGOs/NPOs through potential damage to the environment and society; society through damage to the surrounding environment; and shareholders through direct financial losses due to the costs of remediation measures and reputational risks.

Furthermore, as OMV is diversifying, oil spills are no longer the only relevant spills. For our subsidiary Borealis, preventing pellet spills is also a key issue. Borealis is committed to achieving zero pellet loss in and around its operations, during transportation, and across the entire value chain. The company was therefore an early signatory to Operation Clean Sweep^® (OCS), an international program initiated by the Society of the Plastics Industry and the American Chemistry Council and rolled out in Europe by PlasticsEurope. Borealis is also a signatory of the “Zero Pellet Loss” pact in Austria, which is the Austrian equivalent to OCS. Achieving zero pellet loss is a continuous journey and requires leadership, effort, investment, and targeted and effective work practices. The following section will discuss our management of oil spills. Read more about our efforts on pellet spills in the Borealis Annual Report.

Management and Due Diligence Processes

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. These include proactive management plans including risk assessment, preventive measures, and inspections, as well as reactive management plans including control, response, and clean-up procedures. The majority of our oil spills involve E&P OMV Petrom, where we concentrate our efforts to safeguard and maintain our infrastructure and to improve the reliability of our facilities.

Hazard Identification and Risk Assessments

We have a well integrity management system in place, and detailed Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) and Hazard Identification (HAZID) studies have been conducted for all of our wells.

OMV has also 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.

Emergency Response and Contingency Plans

We conduct spill response according to a plan which identifies appropriate resources (persons in charge and intervention materials) and expertise. This plan assists on-site personnel with dealing with spills by clearly setting out the responsibilities for the actions necessary to stop and contain the spill and to mitigate its effects. This includes techniques for preventing the spill from moving beyond the immediate site, and collecting the spilled substance and contaminated material. Clear communication and coordination protocols are set out in the local plans, particularly where national or international response resources may be required. We carry out regular oil spill response drills and training.

Clean-up and Remediation

Hydrocarbon spills are assessed and cleaned up immediately after their occurrence in accordance with internal procedures governing spill remediation. In particularly difficult cases, we rely on third-party support for capping and containment, surface clean-up, and emergency management. 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. We approach remediation measures in line with the relevant legal requirements, which include clean-up, restoration, rehabilitation, and/or replacement of damaged environmental receptors.

We ensure that the affected land is fit for the intended use by implementing remediation measures, including cleaning up spills (e.g., by excavation and clean earth filling) as well as relying on natural attenuation (recovery) based on the respective decision of the environmental authorities. Provisions are recognized in our accounts for the liabilities related to spills and cover cleaning and remediation costs.

2021 Actions

Total volume of spills

In m³

OMV recorded three major spills in 2021; the most significant spill was caused by a truck rollover incident in Romania, when the tank lid was damaged and around 18,000 l of fuel (diesel and gasoline) were released to the environment.

The majority of our spills occur at OMV Petrom. In 2021, OMV Petrom continued to improve the Pipeline Integrity Management Program, even during challenging times. New and existing risks were prioritized using the Pipeline Integrity Management System software. The highest-ranked pipelines were targeted for complete or sectional replacement, again ensuring that our pipeline integrity efforts focus on the locations where the greatest risks exist. We also continued developing corrosion management plans for our high-risk pipelines along with projects to install “pig launchers and receivers” to enable cleaning and internal inspection of these pipelines. External coatings and cathodic protection are now mandatory for all new metallic pipelines in accordance with OMV Group and OMV Petrom standards and procedures. A pipeline inspection program is in place and functional for all pipelines with capability for internal inspection. The program is managed and planned in SAP CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System).

Outlook

We aim to reduce the number of process safety events at all our sites across the globe resulting in reduction of spills as well. (Read more in Process Safety.)