Portfolio Developments

The year 2022 marked the highest financial results for E&P, with a record clean CCS Operating Result of EUR 7.4 bn, driven by high oil and gas prices. Despite the production and supply impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, E&P has formed strategy implementation teams to focus on key strategic initiatives and made progress with identifying options for optimizing its portfolio, as well as starting the development of its Low Carbon Business. Shortly after the Russia-Ukraine conflict started, OMV deconsolidated the participation in the Yuzhno-Russkoye natural gas field and ceased to consider Russia as a core region. Total average hydrocarbon production came in at 392 kboe/d for 2022, with a natural gas share of around 50%.

The key strategic focus of the E&P segment remains to increase the share of natural gas over that of crude oil and reduce carbon intensity across the portfolio. In 2022, E&P progressed well with its five major natural gas development projects: Neptun (Romania), Jerun (Malaysia), Berling (Norway), Ghasha (UAE), and Māui B (New Zealand).

In 2019, OMV New Zealand announced the intended divestment of its 69% interest in the Maari field to Jadestone Energy. After ongoing engagement with Jadestone Energy, a mutual decision has been made to no longer pursue the transaction. In Yemen, the sales contract for OMV’s assets in the country were signed in December 2022. In Norway, the farm-out agreements for a 20% interest in the Oswig and Velocette licenses were signed on May 9, 2022, to Longboat Energy. On February 27, 2023, OMV announced that it started the sales process for the divestment of its E&P assets in the Asia-Pacific region: a 50% stake in SapuraOMV Upstream Sdn. Bhd. and 100% of the shares in OMV New Zealand Limited.

In Q1/22, E&P integrated the Gas Marketing Western Europe business from Refining & Marketing. In light of market developments, E&P set up a Gas Task Force assigned with the following duties: ensuring that storage facilities in Austria were filled to 100% before the gas winter season 2022/23, establishing new payment conditions with Gazprom Export while complying with European sanctions, and securing additional supply contracts and pipeline capacities, mitigating the risk for OMV.

Central and Eastern Europe

In Romania, 55 new wells and sidetracks were drilled and 647 workover jobs performed. Also, 700 subsurface abandonments were performed in 2022. OMV Petrom successfully and safely finalized the major planned maintenance works at both offshore and onshore facilities. One new well was particularly successful in 2022, as it was put into production in the same year with excellent results.

OMV Petrom continued to focus on the most profitable barrels and there are ongoing activities related to selective divestments.

In Austria, the second and final phase of the photovoltaic plant Schönkirchen was commissioned successfully in 2022. The plant now delivers total peak production of 15.32 MWp for a total power generation of around 15.84 GWh p.a. In 2022, OMV Austria placed significant emphasis on process safety topics. Hazard and operability studies were performed in seven facilities.

Middle East and Africa

In 2022, the Middle East and Africa region delivered strong production results despite a challenging security situation in Libya, Kurdistan, and Yemen. Operations were frequently disrupted and some projects delayed.

This strong production was due to an easing of the OPEC quota and several OMV-driven initiatives to improve the uptime and reliability of the offshore facilities in Umm Lulu and SARB in the UAE.

In Libya, in the first half of the year, the production from our non-operated assets was heavily constrained due to several force majeure events. This production deferment was induced by security shutdowns as a result of the political instability in the country. But as soon as production there came back on stream by mid-July, it remained stable until the end of the year.

In Yemen, production was stable for most of 2022 until political unrest started in Q4/22 and disrupted the shipping of crude oil for all oil and gas companies in the country.

In Tunisia, stable production at the Nawara natural gas field was maintained. The front-end compression system execution project started in 2022 and an infill drilling project will commence in 2023. Both projects aim at increasing the life span of field production at the Nawara asset.

North Sea

In Norway, several new production wells have come on stream.

On Gullfaks, nine wells were delivered. The Gudrun Phase 2 Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) project was completed. This project consists of one infill well, two water production wells, and two water injectors. Infill drilling on Edvard Grieg was completed during 2022 and all five wells from the Solveig field are now producing toward the Edvard Grieg platform.

The Hywind Tampen offshore wind project is now delivering renewable wind power to the Gullfaks field.

Berling (formerly known as Iris/Hades) progressed to FID followed by the submission of the Plan for Development and Operations (PDO) to the Norwegian Ministry in December 2022.

Asia-Pacific

The Jerun natural gas project in Malaysia is progressing according to plan. Detailed engineering is well on track, and the first deliveries of structural steel have arrived at the fabrication yard.

In New Zealand, OMV continued the redevelopment and optimization of the Māui and Pohokura natural gas assets.

Throughout this, the operations team have remained focused on keeping the gas flowing and prioritizing opportunities to further reduce site emissions.

In Pohokura, the infill well was hooked up to the Pohokura onshore facility, with the well producing as expected.

Workovers at Maari continued through to the end of 2022, and a strong focus on asset integrity and corrosion management has allowed for life span extension initiatives to be pursued with no major issues identified to date.

Key projects

Neptun (Romania, OMV 50%)

Starting in August 2022, OMV Petrom is now operator of the Neptun Deep offshore license block with new non-operating partner Romgaz. The Declaration of Commerciality (DoC) was successfully submitted to Romanian authorities in December 2022. The declaration of commercial discovery, while a significant milestone, represents an intermediate step in the process of making the final investment decision. Together with its new partner, OMV Petrom is planning FID in mid-2023.

Other major projects (Romania, OMV 100%)

The successful completion of an exploration well in July 2022 led to the discovery of large resources in the X Craiova Block. It is currently in experimental production. This discovery unlocks significant development opportunities, including the drilling of appraisal and development wells in the coming years.

The commissioning of a photovoltaic park in 2022 marked a first for OMV Petrom. As part of an energy efficiency program, we will use the power it generates for our own consumption within the Exploration & Production segment.

The Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) project consisting of the injection of viscous salt water started in May 2022 and has been producing initial results.

Umm Lulu and SARB (United Arab Emirates, OMV 20%)

Record production was achieved in the Umm Lulu and SARB fields in 2022. Throughout most of the year, only a minimal OPEC quota was applied, so that production in both fields was close to its full potential.

Development drilling continued during the year, using five rigs in total. Seven wells in SARB and 13 wells in Umm Lulu were drilled, while 22 new wells were brought on stream.

Ghasha concession (United Arab Emirates, OMV 5%)

The Ghasha concession is being developed as three projects in parallel, namely Hail & Ghasha, the Dalma project (containing several fields in the Dalma area), and the Deep Gas Development (also containing several fields). The Hail & Ghasha megaproject reached several milestones in 2022, with four out of the eleven artificial islands being completed.

In the Dalma project, activities on the onshore and offshore Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) packages are progressing, with first gas targeted by the middle of the decade.

Khor Mor (KRI, OMV 10%)

The Khor Mor field exceeded production expectations despite several insurgent attacks during the year. Due to the deteriorating security situation since June, construction work on the Khor Mor expansion project is currently on hold. The operator will evaluate the situation in the first half of 2023.

Gullfaks (Norway, OMV 19%)

In 2022, the Equinor-operated Gullfaks field delivered strong production volumes, mainly due to reduced natural gas injection. Norway’s first floating wind farm Hywind Tampen started electricity production in November 2022. The wind farm is expected to meet about 35% of the field’s electricity demand. By the end of 2022, seven out of eleven turbines had started production. The remaining four were assembled in late 2022 and will be installed onsite during 2023. Nine wells were part of the Gullfaks annual activity program in 2022.

Gudrun (Norway, OMV 24%)

The water injection project Gudrun Phase 2 has started on the Gudrun field in the North Sea. The Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) project will increase the oil recovery from the main reservoir on the field and extend production lifetime by two years, changing the drainage strategy from pressure depletion to pressure support by water injection.

Berling (Hades/Iris) (Norway, OMV 30%)

As the operator, OMV changed the name of the Hades/Iris field development project to Berling. The project is progressing toward FID followed by the submission of the PDO to the Norwegian Ministry in December 2022. Offers for rig charters are currently being reviewed. Production start-up is expected in 2028.

SK408 (Malaysia, OMV 40%)

In Malaysia, the phase 1 development of the SK408 license (the Gorek, Larak, and Bakong fields) continued to produce at a high level.

Phase 2 of the license, the Jerun project, is progressing well according to the construction plan. Fabrication of the jacket and topside is well underway and continues to progress as planned. Works continue on the installation of mechanical equipment, piping spools, and pulling electrical and instrument cables for topsides.

Māui A Crestal Infill (New Zealand, OMV 100%)

Two additional MACI wells following the successful drilling program earlier this year were started. Drilling is expected to be completed in 2023.

Māui B IRF Phase 3 (New Zealand, OMV 100%)

The project scope of the Māui B IRF Phase 3 infill drilling comprises the drilling, completion, tie-in, and commissioning of five sidetrack wells on the Māui B platform. Three out of the five wells were delivered during 2022.

Exploration and appraisal highlights

In 2022, OMV, OMV Petrom, and SapuraOMV drilled twelve exploration and appraisal wells in six different countries. Eight of these wells were completed before year end, while the other four were either drilling or testing in early January 2023.

OMV operated or participated in a number of key wells, including two successful appraisals in offshore UAE, natural gas/condensate discoveries in Norway and Tunisia, and a successful natural gas appraisal well in New Zealand. OMV Petrom drilled three onshore exploration wells in Romania resulting in two oil discoveries. The SapuraOMV-operated Kanga drilling in Australia was completed in June 2022. The well did not discover any producible hydrocarbons.

The drilling of four wells in Austria, New Zealand, the UAE, and Mexico was still ongoing at year end. These are expected to be finalized in Q1/23 or Q2/23.

Exploration and appraisal expenditure slightly decreased to EUR 202 mn in 2022 (2021: EUR 210 mn).

Earlier in the year, SapuraOMV was awarded a 40% working interest in a Production Sharing Contract for the Offshore Exploration Block SB412 in Malaysia.

Looking to Q1/23, new wells scheduled for spudding in January are foreseen in Romania, New Zealand, and Tunisia.