Page 10 - EurOil Week 31 2021

EurOil PERFORMANCE EurOil

OMV profits surge in Q2 on higher prices,

strong performance in chemicals

AUSTRIA NET profits at Austrian oil and gas group OMV of a €2bn divestment programme. These assets
surged to €622mn ($734mn) in the second quar- include a share in GasConnect, an Austrian gas
OMV’s chemicals ter, up from €24mn a year earlier, on the back of transportation operator, its upstream business in
business performed higher prices and increased demand for its prod- Kazakhstan and chains of filling stations.
particularly well. ucts, especially chemicals. Despite expanding in petrochemicals, OMV
Sales soared to €7.26bn in the three months is looking to sell its nitrogen business unit,
ending June 30, versus €3.14bn in the same including fertiliser, technical nitrogen and mel-
period in 2020, in part thanks to extra revenue amin operations. Its fertiliser production plants
coming in from OMV’s acquisition of an extra are situated in Austria and France, and via a net-
stake in chemicals giant Borealis. work of 60 warehouses across Europe they sup-
OMV’s oil and gas output grew to 490,000 ply the continent with 5mn tonnes per year (tpy)
barrels of oil equivalent per day in the quarter, up of products. OMV CEO Rainer Seele reiterated
from 464,000 boepd, and the company predicts in an earnings call that the sale of the fertiliser
a full-year average of 480,000 boepd, depend- operations would go ahead, but did not identify
ing on the situation in war-ravaged Libya and any bidders.
OPEC+-imposed cuts. OMV is also considering dropping the
OMV said it expected Brent to average $65- planned purchase of a stake in Achimov gas
70 per barrel in 2021, marking a raise from a pre- blocks in Siberia, and might also consider dump-
vious forecast of $60-65 per barrel. ing its stake in the stalled Neptun Deep project in
Clean current cost of supply operating profit the Romanian Black Sea, Seele said.
at OMV’s upstream business came to €498mn, Neptun Deep is an 85bn cubic metre gas
up from a €152mn loss a year earlier. Earnings resource that OMV discovered with ExxonMo-
from refining and marketing were down 22% bil in 2012. Seele described the project as “one
at €181mn, while income from chemicals and of the best investment projects” he had ever
materials rocketed to €647mn from €78mn a seen, stressing the need for Romania to develop
year earlier. something to replace its declining onshore pro-
OMV made big gains in its polyolefins mar- duction. But the two partners have repeatedly
gins. Its polyethylene indicator margin in Europe delayed taking a final investment decision (FID)
increased by 105% to €805 per tonne, while its on the field, complaining of poor investment
polypropylene margin rose 98% to €898 per conditions in Romania.
tonne. The company’s polyolefin sales volumes ExxonMobil is already in talks to sell its 50%
dipped by 3% year on year to 1.42mn tonnes. stake in Neptun Deep to Romania’s state-owned
The company has sold €1.5bn of assets as part Romgaz. ™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 31 05•August•2021