OMV, Austria’s energy major, is reimagining its future.
WHEN HE became chief executive of OMV in September 2021, Alfred Stern had one word for Austria’s oil-and-gas major: plastic. Having previously run the concern’s chemicals division, Borealis, he saw that business, not fossil fuels, as OMV’s future. Global demand for carbon-emitting products will sooner or later peak. That for virgin plastics used in packaging is forecast to increase on average by 4.7% a year until 2030, faster than world GDP; for recycled plastics it will expand by as much as 12% annually.
Mr Stern must have seemed prescient to his underlings in February 2022, when Russia, from which OMV was buying most of its natural gas, invaded Ukraine. A month later he publicly unveiled his new strategy. From now on the company would focus on producing and selling sustainable fuels, chemicals and materials—with an emphasis on “sustainable”. It would gradually wind down its production of oil and gas. OMV’s boss wants the oil-and-gas division to account for 30% of the group’ operating profit by the end of the decade, compared with an average of 44% between 2019 and 2021. Chemicals would make up half, up from 29%.
Such a transformation would be ambitious at the best of times. With global markets for energy, chemicals and materials all being buffeted by geopolitical and economic forces, it seems almost brazen—especially when other oil-and-gas companies are revising their green plans and doubling down on crude.
2023-11-02 09:17:57
Article from www.economist.com
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