About us - OMV Gas

OMV Gas & Power GmbH is a 100% affiliate of OMV Aktiengesellschaft, part of the holding company in the leading oil and gas group in Central Europe (CEE). OMV Aktiengesellschaft, Austria´s largest listed industrial company, is privately owned with 50.9% free float shares, 31.5% shares owned by ÖIAG (Österreichische Industrieholding AG) and 17.6% shares owned by IPIC (International Petroleum Investment Company). In 2004, for the first time, the free float represented the majority of the issued shares. The core activities of OMV Aktiengesellschaft comprise exploration and production, refining and marketing, and gas. With the acquisition of the Romanian “Petrom”, oil and gas production has more than quadrupled.

Gas is a core business of the OMV Group, which is active in all stages of the value chain. OMV Gas benefits from the availability of self produced gas through the physical integration of the Gas and Exploration and Production business, where OMV is active in 18 countries on five continents.

In a first unbundling step OMV Aktiengesellschaft spun off its gas activities into OMV Gas GmbH in 2001. By 2006 OMV Gas has implemented a new organisational structure: OMV Gas & Power (former OMV Gas International GmbH) was founded as a holding company for all gas activities within OMV. Under this umbrella there are separate “sister-companies” for sales and marketing and for transmission and storage. This is not only the final step towards a fully unbundled structure, but also an instrument to take on the challenges of the internalisation of the gas business.

OMV Gas GmbH as a 100% subsidiary of OMV Gas & Power GmbH plays a key role in gas transit, with one-third of all Russian gas exports to Western Europe passing through Baumgarten Hub. OMV will strengthen this position by expanding the existing transit system from 45 bcm at present to 60 bcm until 2011 and by linking new pipelines to the Baumgarten hub. Furthermore, 2,000 km pipeline network and the gas storage facilities of OMV Gas GmbH play an important role in safeguarding security of supply in Austria and beyond. The highly competitive storage and transportation costs build a solid base for OMV Gas’ competitive position. New pipeline routes from the gas rich Caspian region and the Middle East (the regions with the largest gas reserves in the world) to Central Europe should ensure security of supply. Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH as a 20% subsidiary of OMV Gas & Power GmbH plans to start with construction of this pipeline from the eastern border of Turkey to Austria´s Gas station Baumgarten in 2008, start of operation is planned for 2011. Another important project for Europe´s natural gas supply is the Adria LNG project, where OMV Gas & Power GmbH is involved.

The trading and marketing activities are carried out via EconGas GmbH (a subsidiary formed end of 2002, OMV Gas & Power GmbH interest of 50%) for Austria and the surrounding markets, and Petrom´s Gas division. EconGas is specialized in serving industrial consumers offering contractual and technical solutions like for example price stability guarantees, using modern risk management tools such as hedging.