Austrian energy company OMV reports another win against Gazprom
Posted on Feb 6, 2025
The Vienna-headquartered firm OMV is the first company in Europe to receive damages tied to Gazprom's 75% unilateral reduction ogf gas supplies to the continent in 2022, which triggered unprecedented increases in the continent's gas prices in the second half of 2022 and the first half of 2023.
Former Gazprom customers across Europe have sought billions of euros from he Russian company.
The arbitration figure of around €230 million — awarded to OMV by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in November in relation to disrupted supplies to Germany — was set off against OMV’s liabilities under a separate Austrian gas supply contract with Gazprom’s export subsidiary, Gazprom Export, in the fourth quarter.
OMV initiated a second arbitration against Gazprom Export at the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce in January 2023, seeking damages for unpredictable deliveries under the Austrian supply contract which was due to expire in 2040.
Following a full supply cut by Gazprom Export to OMV on 16 November 2024, OMV terminated the Austrian contract on 11 December with immediate effect, it said.
OMV in December declared a partial set-off of this second damage claim against Gazprom Export for €48 million against liabilities under the Austrian gas supply contract. Earlier this month, the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce ruled in favour of OMV, the company said, and the figure will be recorded
Speaking at a conference call on Tuesday, OMV chief executive officer Alfred Stern said that the termination of its long-term contract with Gazprom Export — which had “limited earnings potential and a single digit margin” — means that “significant risk supply potential has been eliminated for the company”.
The company has successfully secured replacement gas supplies from Norway, the US and Italy. Even without future gas deliveries from Gazprom Export, OMV will be able to fulfil its delivery obligations to its direct customers, the company has said.
The company is forecasting a Europe refining indicator margin of around $6 per barrel in 2025, compared with $7.1 per barrel for the whole of 2024, and it predicts fuel and other sales volumes in OMV’s markets in Europe will increase from the 6.2 million tonnes recorded in 2024.