Corporate Security

An unstable geopolitical environment in 2022 combined with complex new and ongoing regional conflicts, not only in the Middle East but also in Europe, resulted in Corporate Security investing significant resources in ensuring resilience and security in areas that we had previously considered low risk, but without losing focus on assets located in the Middle East and North Africa. In addition to the challenges of operating securely in Yemen, Tunisia, and Libya, the enduring threat of terrorist attacks in Europe and elsewhere has not diminished. Political extremism, organized crime, and the increasing convergence of cyber risks with physical threats necessitated the Corporate Security department’s unrelenting focus on a robust yet flexible security strategy to enable OMV to continue operating in dynamic environments with asymmetric threats.

Specific Policies and Commitments

Our internal Security Management Standard lays out a comprehensive range of security regulations, plans, procedures, measures, and systems. The document utilizes the IOGP best practice guidelines, along with other industry best practice (ASIS and UK Security Institute), to enable the OMV Group to more effectively detect, deter, protect against, prevent, record, and investigate threats. Corporate guidelines on Issue Motivated Groups (IMGs) were updated, as was a position paper on Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs).

Management and Due Diligence Processes

The OMV Group has a unique, agile, and proven security management system that is regularly reviewed, amended, or enhanced as the situation requires.

Risk Assessments

The philosophy of collecting security information and assessing it as a preventive security instrument remains a fundamental principle of the Corporate Security strategy. This concept affords us the ability to anticipate or instantly respond to a broad spectrum of geopolitical events, regional conflicts, and isolated incidents. Effective interaction with government and local security agencies further augments this approach with the reliable corroboration of facts on the ground.

OMV’s security risk assessment platform continues to provide real-time oversight of OMV’s asset risk exposure levels and can be quickly adjusted in response to geopolitical or security events, as well as enabling the dissemination of security-critical information in real time.

Human Rights and Community Engagement

The OMV Group’s human rights policies and actions remain crucial to guaranteeing a secure and harmonious working environment. We provide human rights training to local security employees and third-party contractors. Effective community engagement at a local level remains a powerful security mitigation measure in regions experiencing conflict or instability. In high-risk countries, OMV’s local security and community engagement strategies are tightly integrated, promoting effective policies, mutual respect, and transparency with all local stakeholders. In turn, they contributed directly to OMV’s stable and secure operating environment in 2022. This cooperation encourages a precautionary approach to early detection and resolution of local grievances.

2022 Actions

Despite changing COVID-19 challenges and travel restrictions in 2022, the Corporate Security department continued to deliver operational support to OMV ventures, as well as surge capacity during security challenges. In high-risk countries, OMV also utilized dedicated Country Security Managers and Asset Protection Experts on site to enhance security via additional and, where appropriate, local expertise.

In 2021, the OMV Executive Board took the decision that OMV would join the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPSHR), if feasible. This set of tools provides guidance on risk assessment, public safety and security, human rights abuses, and the interaction between companies and private and public security. OMV is committed to upholding human rights in all of its activities. During 2022, OMV Corporate Security conducted a VPSHR gap analysis using a third-party consultancy company to ensure independence.

Outlook

Following our VPSHR gap analysis by a third-party consultancy, we are now in the process of adopting their recommendations with a view to joining the VPSHR in 2023.