Tag: OMV AG

  • European energy giant considers Turkey as its third business hub

    European energy giant considers Turkey as its third business hub

    TUBA PARLAK

    LONDON – Hürriyet Daily News

    omvRepresentatives of a European energy giant told a press conference in Istanbul on Friday that the company intended to expand its Turkish operations, following the recent purchase of a local petrol supply chain.

    Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, CEO of Austrian giant OMV told the press conference the company intended to turn the recently purchased Petrol Ofisi, Turkey’s largest chain of petrol stations, into an energy company by integrating all their Turkish operations. “We value the company very much and plan to create a complex energy company out of it for actualization of all our future energy investments in Turkey. We will do this by integrating the gas and power investments operating beneath it,” he said.

    He said OMV is happy with its employees at the chain and only plans to modernize the stations. The group is not considering any reduction of the number or employees, he said.

    The Austrian giant, with operations in oil, gas, electricity and renewable energy, aims to develop Turkey into its third business hub, following Vienna and Bucharest, by integrating the country into its core market for refining and marketing, or R&M, thus also establishing Turkey as a link to resource supplies in both northern Iraq and the Caspian.

    Benefiting from an integrated business model

    Ruttenstorfer made a presentation at the conference which mainly focused on the company’s expansion and its future plans in regions throughout Eastern and Southeast Europe and Turkey. OMV has 20 percent R&M market share in the region, he said.

    “Integrated activities from upstream assets, supply and logistics, refining to marketing and trading and power generation are key advantages for OMV,” he said.

    He also noted that Turkey played a key role in the company’s integrated regional business scheme due to its proximity to Caspian and northern Iraq oil reserves. “As a market distribution line, Petrol Ofisi is of utmost importance for the integrated business model we plan to launch in Turkey and its surrounding regions because of its optimal logistics position in leveraging seaborne product supply potentials,” he said.

    Potential participation to a refinery

    Ruttenstorfer stressed that growth in energy demand is currently mainly driven by emerging nations – as developed countries are recording only limited growth. According to the company’s estimates, by 2015 the energy demand growth rate in Turkey will be 12 percent for oil, 31 percent for gas and 37 percent for power, making Turkey an essential component in the OMV portfolio.

    Regarding Turkey’s exploration and production opportunities, Ruttenstorfer said his company might consider a minority participation in a possible refinery in Ceyhan, in the Mediterranean province of Adana, provided that they anticipate an integration benefit for equity crude.

    No green investments in Turkey

    Ruttenstorfer said both the dynamics in the renewables sector and the carbon emissions regime continued to be a driving force for significant changes currently shaping the energy landscape in Europe and that the EU was again striving to limit carbon dioxide emissions to 30 percent, adding that the regulatory regime may change to incentivize investments in secure peak capacity – which would impact power economics.

    He also said renewable energy investments constituted a significant portion of OMV’s overall business and investment strategy. However, Ruttenstorfer also said the company currently has no plans to invest in Turkish renewables, although they were keeping an eye on developments in the sector.

  • OMV Takes Over Turkey’s Biggest Fuel Retailer for $1.4 Billion

    OMV Takes Over Turkey’s Biggest Fuel Retailer for $1.4 Billion

    OMV AG, central Europe’s biggest oil company, has agreed to take over Turkey’s biggest fuel retailer for 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) to tap faster growth in emerging markets.

    OMV will buy Dogan Sirketler Grubu Holding AS’s 54.17 percent holding in Petrol Ofisi AS, boosting its stake to 95.75 percent from 41.58 percent, OMV said in a statement yesterday after markets closed. Before completion, likely within three months, Petrol Ofisi will distribute $488 million in dividends to shareholders, with $203 million going to OMV, 265 million to Dogan and $21 million to free-float investors.

    OMV is expanding in emerging markets to tap faster demand growth. Petrol Ofisi has 3,140 gasoline stations in Turkey, where oil consumption rose 5.8 percent in 2008, according to BP Plc. That compares with a 0.1 percent decline in Austria.

    OMV wants to maintain a “strong investment grade credit rating and therefore does not exclude raising equity as one of the available funding options,’’ it said in the statement.

    OMV has held a stake in Petrol Ofisi since 2006, when it bought 34 percent of the company for $1.06 billion.

    “Turkey represents a strategic bridgehead to the resource- rich Caspian Region and the Middle East,’’ the company said in the statement.

    To contact the reporter on this story: Zoe Schneeweiss in Vienna at zschneeweiss@bloomberg.net.

    To contact the editor responsible for this story: Angela Cullen at acullen8@bloomberg.net

    via OMV Takes Over Turkey’s Biggest Fuel Retailer for $1.4 Billion – Bloomberg.