For the first time in its history, Austrian OMV produced more than 500,000 barrels of gas and oil per day in the final quarter of 2019. Production averaged 505,000 barrels per day (boe / d), after 480,000 boe / d in the previous quarter and 447,000 boe / d a year earlier. Refining margins at OMV – and especially at its subsidiary Petrom – declined at the end of the year, it was announced.
The increase in production in the previous year is essentially due to the acquisition of large projects, for example in Abu Dhabi, Malaysia and New Zealand, OMV CEO Rainer Seele had already explained in the autumn. Natural gas accounted for an average of 291,000 boe / d of total production in the final quarter (after 269,000 boe / d in Q3) and 214,000 (211,000) boe / d for oil and NGL production.
The total sales volume in the fourth quarter was 43.9 million boe, after 42.8 million boe in the previous quarter, according to the quarterly report (Trading Statement). The average realized oil price rose slightly from $ 59.0 to $ 61.0 / barrel, for gas it was 11.3 (10.7) euros per megawatt hour (MWh). For comparison, the average price of North Sea Brent oil in Q4 was $ 63.08 / barrel (after $ 62.00 / barrel in Q3).
The refining margin had to accept discounts at the end of the year. The OMV reference refining margin declined quarterly from $ 5.46 to $ 5.02 a barrel, while the OMV Petrom reference refining margin declined even more sharply to $ 4.68 (6.46) / barrel. The refinery utilization rate was estimated by OMV at 98 (96) percent, for Petrom at 98 (after 99) percent.
The total sales volume of refined products, at 5.17 million tonnes, was below the previous quarter’s value (5.60 million tonnes), but roughly at the level of the final quarter of 2018 (5.25 million tonnes). The ethylene / propylene net margin was only 363 euros / tonne, well below the previous quarter (441 euros / tonne) and the same quarter of the previous year (504 euros / tonne). Natural gas sales volumes were quite high in the final quarter, amounting to 44.71 terawatt hours (TWh), after 27.17 TWh in the previous quarter and 32.73 TWh in comparison to the previous year.
In the fourth quarter, the retail margins decreased compared to the previous quarter, while the commercial margins rose slightly, the interim report continues. “Due to the adjustment of interim profits, we will post a negative, low to medium double-digit million euro amount in the consolidation in Q4 / 19,” said OMV.
On February 6, the OMV Group plans to publish the complete results for the entire previous year.
The joint venture of the oil and gas company OMV and the Malaysian oil and gas company SEB Upstream (SUP), SapuraOMV Upstream, has started production on the Larak gas field in Malaysia. Production started “within budget”, as OMV announced. SapuraOMV belongs to 50 percent of the OMV subsidiary OMV Exploration & Production GmbH.
The SK408 gas development project includes the Gorek, Larak and Bakong fields and, according to OMV, is primarily intended to cover the growing gas demand in Asia. It is SapuraOMV’s second upstream gas development project in Malaysia.
The entire production of the joint venture is expected to increase to more than 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe / d) after the start of the first production phase of the SK408. When it started in November 2019, OMV said that it wanted to increase production in Malaysia to 60,000 barrels a day by 2023. (Apa / red)
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