OMV Transforms Into Chemical and Materials Producer

Austrian Oil & Gas Group (OMV) CEO Alfred Stern announced today that OMV Austria has developed a strategic plan to transform into an integrated chemicals, materials and sustainable fuels company by 2030. Stern said the chemicals and materials business would be "a growth engine for the company", with the goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and ending all oil and gas production for energy use. By 2030, the company will expand and diversify its existing chemicals and materials business. OMV's refining and marketing operations will continue to provide sustainable chemical feedstocks, fuels and mobility solutions, with production increasing to 1.5 million tons per year.

OMV's strategic goals include expanding into North American and Asian markets and establishing sustainable polyolefin production. It aims to have a 40% share of total European polyolefin production by 2030. The company said it currently produces about 100,000 tons of polymers and chemicals based on recycled or renewable bio-based feedstocks per year, with sustainable product production reaching about 2 million tons per year by 2030.

OMV currently has a production capacity of 7 million tons/year for basic chemicals and about 6 million tons/year for polyolefins, making it one of the top ten polyolefin producers in the world. The company will build a new propane dehydrogenation plant in Carlo, Belgium in 2023. "In Europe, we are targeting to expand our monomer capacity by 20% to around 4.8 million tonnes, mainly through the PDH plant in Carlo," Stern said. On the polymer side, the target is through debottlenecking projects , compound growth and mechanical recycling to achieve a production capacity of about 4.7 million tons/year.

In addition, OMV will invest around 5 billion euros in developing low-carbon businesses, including geothermal energy and carbon capture and storage (CCS), to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The company's CCS business aims to achieve an annual production capacity of 5 million tonnes/year by 2030.