In his first full quarter as CEO of OMV, Alfred Stern let the tabula rasa go: For the fourth calendar quarter, the Austrian mineral oil company announced value adjustments of 1.7 billion euros. To put this in perspective: In the first three quarters of 2021, the group’s operating result was 3.45 billion euros. Earnings improved by four billion euros year-on-year.
The impairments are justified by a write-down of the stake in the world’s fourth largest refinery in Abu Dhabi, revaluations of gas field deposits in Russia and Borealis’ difficult fertilizer business. This is partly located in Linz and is – as reported – for sale. Arab devaluation is likely to be the largest contributor, a foretaste of the new strategy that will see the refining business re-evaluated.
The fourth quarter went well operationally. The refineries were running at 95 percent capacity and sales volumes were high. The prices achieved reflect the developments on the commodity markets: OMV sold around 77 dollars per barrel in the fourth quarter, which is almost at the level of the model crude oil variety Brent.
When it comes to gas, OMV obviously has a long-term obligation to its customers: the current listing of EUR 95 per megawatt hour on the European gas hub could only be partially converted into its own sales prices. OMV quotes the realized natural gas price as EUR 27.10 – which, however, still means a tripling of the comparable period of the previous year.
Source: Nachrichten
