OMV AG

VSE:OMV

Earnings Call Transcript

[Andreas Rinofner, executive]

Ladies and gentlemen, I cordially welcome to our half year press conference, where we're going to present the results of the first 6 months, and we're going to provide you with an outlook for the full year. Quite honestly, we had really hoped to be able to welcome you personally here in the house, but unfortunately, the situation does not warrant it. Health and safety come first here at OMV, and this is why we decided to do a live webcast for this press conference, but we do hope that we will be able to welcome you here in our head office for a personal discussion.

In the past 6 months, many of us had to change a lot of things, but some things were kept, and that is also the good tradition to start the press conference with a short video clip. Please roll it.

[Presentation]

[Andreas Rinofner, executive]

Well, ladies and gentlemen, the COVID-19 pandemic has left its traces in the results of OMV, but the question is, what those traces are and how deep they are? The question is also what went well? And today, I would like to report about this today, and then we'll have a question-and-answer session.

[Operator Instructions]

By way of introduction, I would like to introduce your interlocutors today: CEO, Rainer Seele; next to him, Johann Pleininger, Deputy CEO and Board member in charge of Upstream and Chief Upstream Operations Officer; Elena Skvortsova, Board Member for Downstream Marketing and Trading and Chief Commercial Officer; Thomas Gangl, Board Member for Downstream, Refining and Petrochemical Operations and Chief Downstream Operations Officer; and Reinhard Florey, Chief Financial Officer.

Now I'd like to hand over to Mr. Seele.

[Rainer Seele, executive]

Thank you, Mr. Rinofner. A wonderful good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and a cordial welcome to our half year press conference. We, the Executive Board team, are sitting in front of you today in a new constellation, one that more accurately reflects the structure of the company. Last summer, a sharp growth in Downstream activities led us to split the business into 2 areas: refining and petrochemical operations for which Board member Thomas Gangl is responsible; and marketing and trading, which will now be led by my Board colleague, Elena Skvortsova, who has the title of Chief Commercial Officer. Elena, I cordially welcome you to our team.

[Elena Skvortsova, executive]

Thank you, Rainer. I would like to use this opportunity to thank all the colleagues and the Board and the entire OMV team for the friendly welcome and a very fast integration. This has helped me to come off to a good start. Ladies and gentlemen, I worked in Central and Eastern Europe, in the Middle East, in Great Britain, the U.S. and Canada, and now I'm very pleased to be in Vienna, especially to be here at OMV. I'm very much looking forward to promoting our sustainable business model here at OMV and to help shape this process. And my focus is, of course, very much on customer proximity, gaining market shares and growing the margins. Quite honestly, I'm very much looking forward to better times, and I hope that we will soon be able to speak face-to-face.

Now I'd like to hand over to Rainer.

[Rainer Seele, executive]

Thank you, Elena. Ladies and gentlemen, before I turn to the results for the first half, I want to take a look at the macroeconomic environment. In the first 6 months, it was mainly dominated by 2 developments: the global coronavirus pandemic on the one hand and the simultaneous slump in the oil and gas prices on the other hand. While demand for crude and refined products plummeted as a result of the lockdown, the supply of crude oil actually increased as the OPEC Plus states initially failed to agree on supply cuts. Consequently, the Brent price fell from around $70 per barrel at the beginning of the year to a 21-year low of around $13. It wasn't until the production cuts agreed by the OPEC Plus states in April coupled with a gradual return in demand that led to an increase in the subsequent stabilization of the oil price. The average Brent price was $40 per barrel in the first 6 months and that's 39% lower than in the same period last year.

The decrease in gas prices was even more pronounced. In the Austrian trading hub, Central European gas hub, the average exchange price in the first half year stood at EUR 8.6 per megawatt hour, a decrease of 50% versus the first half of 2019, particular reasons for this were the warm winter, the unusually high storage levels throughout the whole of Europe and global overcapacities for LNG.

Furthermore, the demand was reduced due to the corona pandemic. In the Downstream business, too, we also saw a challenging and fragile environment. After starting the year at a high level with a volatile performance until April, the OMV indicator refining margin then fell sharply because of the rapid and acute decrease in demand, coupled with a slight increase in oil prices at the end of the second quarter. The average margin in the end was unchanged at $3.6 a barrel. So it's unchanged compared to the first half of the previous year.

We saw a similar trend in the petrochemicals business. Following an increase in the ethylene and propylene net margin in the first quarter, it declined in the second quarter due to a rise in the naphtha price. The higher raw material prices could only be partially passed on through higher product prices. As a result of this, market development, the C2, C3 margin held by 8% to EUR 428 per tonne versus the first half of the previous year.

Ladies and gentlemen, OMV's integrated business model has once again proved its value during the coronavirus crisis. Of course, the clean CCS operating result was heavily impacted by the effects of the coronavirus lockdown and stood at EUR 844 million, which was 53% below the value of the previous half year. That said, the full brunt of the negative market effect was partially mitigated by our integrated business model and the diversified portfolio. While the Upstream business was hit hard by the massive slump in the oil price, the Downstream business managed to partly benefit from the decrease in raw materials costs, and it managed to increase its income from the gas trading business, and thereby, stabilize total earnings.

Although OMV Group's operating cash flow declined by 70% in the first half of the year, but it remained robust at EUR 1.7 billion. Of this, around EUR 1.1 billion was generated in the first quarter, and in the second quarter, whilst the full brunt of the coronavirus lockdown was felt, OMV still managed to generate an operating cash flow in excess of EUR 0.5 billion, an impressive proof to the company's earning power in an exceptionally difficult market environment.

Ladies and gentlemen, the OMV Board decided yesterday that a dividend of EUR 1.75 per share will be proposed to the Annual General Meeting in September, and thus, to leave the dividend at the level of the previous year. This is in line with our progressive dividend policy, but it also takes into account the exceptionally difficult market environment. At the same time, it underlines the consistency and the financial power of OMV, thanks to which we can still offer an attractive dividend to our shareholders. After a brief glance of the results of the OMV Group and the adaptation of the dividend proposal, I would like to take a more detailed look at the individual business areas.

In Upstream, the clean operating result decreased as a consequence of the historically low oil and gas prices by more than EUR 1 billion to minus EUR 15 million. The total oil and gas production declined only slightly, may by 3% to 468,000 barrels a day.

The production shortfalls in Libya are the main reason for this decline, which was partially offset by production increases in Malaysia. Our main focus on Upstream continues to lie in reducing costs in order to strengthen our competitiveness. Here, our cost-cutting program has been successfully implemented, whereby production costs were reduced by a further 8% against the comparable 6-month period to average $6.3 per barrel.

In Downstream, we managed to slightly increase of the clean CCS operating result, despite the decrease in demand caused by the coronavirus situation. It rose to EUR 810 million. The sale of CO2 certificates and positive income from hedges and middle distillate margins have contributed just like the strong retail business. In the retail business, we achieved higher margins, which are compensated for lower volumes. In addition, in natural gas trading, we managed to achieve significant growth in trading volumes and earnings increases. The gas business netted EUR 181 million. So it more than doubled its contribution to our earnings in the first half of 2019. And this exceptionally good performance was due to a stronger storage business and higher earnings from electricity production in Romania, but also higher natural gas sales, especially in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Romania.

Overall, the volumes of natural gas sold rose by 24% to more than 80 terawatt hours due to both the extension of existing contracts and newly acquired customers, thus we managed to increase its market share in every market, and in some cases, even significantly. By contrast, lower earnings were generated by our refinery interest in Abu Dhabi and the Borealis business. The refinery results were negatively affected by a planned general overhaul of the Ruwais refinery complex. The contribution to earnings by Borealis decreased because of inventory write-downs due to the breakdown of the large cracker unit in Sweden and the weaker market environment in Asia. The total volume of refinery products sold decreased as a result of weaker demand by 14% to 8.8 million tonnes.

The sales volumes in the petrochemicals business remained steady at the level of the previous year, thanks to the high degree of integration at our refineries in Burghausen and Schwechat as well as a highly advanced digital control system, we managed to redirect the volumes that were no longer needed in the fuel sector and brought them into petrochemicals, especially for use in the Borealis value chain. And with this, we managed to maintain our utilization rate at a very high level compared to our competitors. While the refineries in the European OECD countries had an average capacity utilization of 74% in the first half, OMV's refineries achieved a rate of 86% utilization.

Ladies and gentlemen, this first half year and the second quarter, in particular, was an exceptionally tough environment for OMV. A slump in demand, plummeting prices and more difficult working conditions provided a stiff headwind during those months. OMV managed to successfully hold its ground in this environment, however, and we are now seeing clear signs of recovery. Demand is returning, and in some places, like, at our filling stations, for example, sales are practically at the same level as last year.

Ladies and gentlemen, the coronavirus pandemic may be a very dominant topic at the moment, but it is by far the only decisive factor. There will come a time after coronavirus, and we need to lay the strategic groundwork for us today. And this is why we have consistently continued to implement our Strategy 2025 in the first half year and have made significant progress.

Let me touch on some major milestones from this first half. With the agreement signed on the 12th of March to increase our shareholder in Borealis to 75%, overall, we have achieved a key strategic milestone. With this, we are expanding our value chain in the direction of chemicals, and we will no longer burn the valuable raw material, that is oil, but we will instead use it to produce high-quality plastics and chemical products that will be urgently needed even in a low-carbon world. What's more, together with Borealis, we intend to become a leading company in the recycling industry. Thus, we are establishing a sustainable business model in which plastics, at the end of the useful life, do not become waste but are instead used as a valuable feedstock with the potential to produce new high-quality plastics. OMV will, therefore, play a key part in realizing the EU targets here in Austria, which specify that 50% of plastics must be recycled by 2025.

To finance this Borealis transaction, in the first half of the year, we issued bonds to the amount of EUR 3.25 billion. At the same time, OMV launched the divestment program worth EUR 2 billion by 2021, where 2 sales processes have already been set in motion. For the sale of the OMV filling station business in Germany, we already started due diligence, and from 40 interested parties, we have drawn up a shortlist of potential buyers for whom the data room is now open.

The second sale relates to the 51% stake in our gas logistics subsidiary, Gas Connect Austria. Here, we remain in intensive talks with VERBUND, as before.

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to briefly address the climate strategy of OMV. Here too, we have made significant progress. To illustrate this [indiscernible] 2 projects. First, the largest solar-based photovoltaic plant in Austria. One year ago, together with VERBUND, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding to build such a facility. Recently, we started construction, and we will finish the plant by year-end. It will meet part of our own electricity demand and save approximately 10,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. The project Carbon2ProductAustria, this project is still in a very early phase, but it holds exceptional promise. It envisages the establishment of a cross-sectoral value chain, in which the CO2 generated during cement production will be processed with green hydrogen into hydrocarbons, which will in turn be used to produce, for example, synthetic jet fuels or high-quality plastics. Together with Lafarge, VERBUND and Borealis, we've signed a Memorandum of Understanding to build a facility for this by 2030.

Above and beyond this, OMV is working on the following topics as part of its technological research, which is road fuels of the future, recycling underground storage of CO2 and the production of hydrogen through hydrolysis. The fact that our efforts towards sustainability and climate protection have been objectively recognized and welcomed is reflected by the renowned rankings in which OMV appears. For example, this year, the FTSE Russell rating agency listed us in the FTSE4Good Index, and CDP listed us once again in the climate change category and awarded us Leadership A. This makes OMV one of the 5 best companies in Austria in this sector, and it is a leader in the oil and gas industry worldwide.

Ladies and gentlemen, this recognition coming from external rating agencies confirms the path on which we have embarked. However, we see this also as a call to continue along this path and to grow faster and further than originally planned, and that is precisely what we are doing. The targets laid out to reduce our carbon intensity in our Strategy 2025 were met last year, and they were even surpassed. And this is why we decided to set new, even more ambitious targets, and these targets are published for the first time today.

We intend to reduce the CO2 emissions of our operations to net 0 by 2050 at the latest. On the path to achieving this, we have set a clear interim goal for the short term. By 2025, we will reduce the carbon intensity of our operations by at least 30% compared to the baseline of 2010. The targets stated in our Strategy 2025 of minus 19% was already achieved last year. In the interest of transparency, in future, we will present this reduction broken down by business area.

Specifically, we intend to reduce the carbon intensity of our Upstream operations by at least 60%, while achieving a reduction in the refining business of at least 20%. Or in absolute terms, we intend to kept the CO2 emissions of our operations between 2020 to 2025 by at least 1 million metric tons. Also, the carbon intensity of our product portfolio has received new targets. By 2025, there should be a reduction of at least 6% versus 2010. The former target specified was at 4%. Our long-term ambition for 2050 will be part of our strategy update, which we will present in detail in the summer of 2021.

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to end with a short outlook for the full year 2020. We assume Brent crude price of $40 per barrel on average. The estimated average realized gas prices will be slightly below EUR 10 per megawatt hour. In Upstream, subject to the security situation in Libya and production cuts in individual countries, a total production of 450,000 and 470,000 barrels a day. In Downstream, we assume that refining margins for our European refineries will be around $3 per barrel. Whereas, we expect petrochemical margins to be slightly below the level of the previous year. We forecast the utilization of our refineries in Europe to be around 85%. No major downtime for maintenance is planned for this year. Organic investments. Well, for 2020, we have earmarked around EUR 1.7 billion without acquisitions.

So ladies and gentlemen, thank you for listening, and we now look forward to your questions.

[Andreas Rinofner, executive]

Thank you, Mr. Seele. This brings us to the Q&A session. But before we start with that, we'll watch a short video clip.

[Presentation]

[Andreas Rinofner, executive]

And this takes us to the Q&A session.

[Andreas Rinofner, executive]

I would like to start with 2 questions from Jakob Zirm from the daily newspaper, Die Presse. His first question is, in the first half year, the result was minus EUR 11 million. So it was a negative result. Has this ever happened in OMV's history?

[Reinhard Florey, executive]

Allow me to answer this question. We all know that the COVID-19 crisis coupled with political tensions has a negative effect on oil and gas prices, had turned into a crisis that had been unparalleled in recent decades. That is also the case for OMV. So in the recent history of OMV, we had -- never had such results. However, we also have to say that in the second quarter, we managed to achieve a positive net result. And I think this is what counts. So it's important to understand where this negative result came from in the first quarter, which actually was better. And this is due to the depreciation effects resulting from the lower prices for our raw materials. So our CCS effects, storage effects were very negative and that, of course, had an impact on the results in the first quarter. This was weakened in the second quarter, and this is why in the second quarter, we had positive results.

[Andreas Rinofner, executive]

Thank you, Mr. Florey. This takes me to the second question. It refers to the Achimov deal. In March, Gazprom announced that negotiations about the Achimov deal are no longer exclusively negotiated with OMV. And the price of EUR 9.5 billion (sic) [ EUR 905 million ] is not secure. What is the current status? And how important is this business for you?

[Johann Pleininger, executive]

Well, we agreed with Gazprom that the negotiations should be continued on a nonexclusive basis until the end of 2022 when they will be concluded. Due to the progress achieved in the project because Achimov is scheduled to go into operation at the end of this year, beginning of next year. And thus, the terms and conditions are going to change as well. So the price that we had negotiated back then will be changed because the field is already producing and because certain investments will have been made by then. So this will be considered, and the negotiations were started in a timely fashion, so that by the end of 2022, as scheduled, we can come to a conclusion.

[Andreas Rinofner, executive]

Thank you, Mr. Pleininger. The next question is asked by Matthias Wabl from Bloomberg. A total of 3 questions. I will read them. The first question refers to the divestment program. What does this divestment program look like? What about the sale of the German filling station network? And what other assets evaluated for a potential sale? The timing is not optimal. Are you going to manage to generate EUR 2 billion? And where do you stand? And by when do you think this will be finished?

[Rainer Seele, executive]

Well, our program has been locked in at EUR 2 billion. There are -- these 2 projects that we have defined and we are going to keep you informed about further projects once we have done our homework for the 2 current projects. So once these have been completed at OMV, then that -- the Executive Board will consider further divestment projects. Due to recent developments, there is no reason to steer a different cause. So by the end of next year, we want to generate EUR 2 billion from divestments. On the contrary, the 2 projects that we launched are developing well, and Thomas Gangl, my Board colleague, is going to provide you with an update.

[Elena Skvortsova, executive]

I would like to briefly talk about the sale of the German filling stations. We're highly interested in -- while we are seeing more than 40 interested parties who want to buy this filling station network from us, so we are now focusing on a shortlist of interested parties. We have provided one with access to the data room. And in the near future, we are going to have detailed discussions with the interested parties. And we are planning by the end of the year to receive the offers and to conclude the sale.

[Thomas Gangl, executive]

As to the second project, the sale of our share in Gas Connect Austria, we have exclusive negotiations with VERBUND. We will continue to negotiate with them. An offer has been submitted, and we are planning to conclude the deal by year-end. The question is, is this the right point of time? Yes. We are talking about long-term considerations that are independent of the current situation. So we are in it for the long term, and I believe that this constitutes a good basis for this deal that will be concluded by year-end.

[Andreas Rinofner, executive]

The second question refers to Libya. When would be the right time to simply shut down Libya or to sell it since the situation does not only not improve but actually deteriorate? Is it not about time to put an end to it?

[Johann Pleininger, executive]

Well, Libya is one of our core countries. Libya fits in with our strategy. Libya is one of the countries with the lowest production costs. Selling the Libyan assets is more tough for discussion and is not intended for the near future.

[Andreas Rinofner, executive]

With that, the last question from Matthias Wabl is directed to our shareholders, actually. [indiscernible] have said that they want to strengthen their expertise and independence in the Supervisory Board. What do they mean by that? Where do you need more expertise in the Supervisory Board?

[Rainer Seele, executive]

Well, Mr. Rinofner has already suggested it at the beginning. This is something you need to discuss with our shareholders and not with the Board of OMV. There is a clear separation here. Supervisory Board related topics should be discussed with the Supervisory Board members and the shareholders what their intentions will be expressed by them.

[Andreas Rinofner, executive]

Another question. After the Borealis transaction and the divestment project of [indiscernible] Energy Vision magazine, where he has issued bonds that are higher than the Borealis transactions' worth. Will these bonds be used for other projects, since you're also going to sell the German filling station that are in Gas Connect Austria?

[Reinhard Florey, executive]

I think you need to rephrase the question. The transactions that we are now intending to do Borealis has a scope of USD 4.68 billion. And we have issued bonds in 2 different bonds, totaling EUR 3.25 billion. So the way the question is asked, well, I think we need to say that we have insured financing of Borealis through this acquisition finance and the bonds that constitute the long-term aspect of this financing. And we are not considering using additional funds for other projects. So this financing serves the financing of the Borealis transaction.

[Andreas Rinofner, executive]

A little comment from Mr. [indiscernible]. There is a question asked by Mr. [indiscernible] that refers to the cooperation with Gazprom and Achimov. But Mr. Pleininger has already answered this question, so we'll skip that question.

And we'll now move on to a question asked by Andreas Mihm of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. This question refers to Nord Stream. From the perspective of OMV, how is the conflict surrounding Nord Stream? Like, are there any threats of sanctions against OMV? Are there any talks with the U.S. administration in Washington? How do you assess the reactions of the Austrian government and the European Union to these threats and repurchase?

[Rainer Seele, executive]

Well, I would like to say one thing. OMV has always complied with any existing sanctions. So the sanctions that are in place will be taken into account, but let us not delude ourselves. This is a discussion around the pipeline project, but it is actually a development that goes over and beyond this pipeline. We need to ask the question, to what extent Europe can stand for its own sovereignty and independence, especially in providing the continent with energy? This is a political initiative from my point of view, and the political initiative requires a political answer. And this political answer, however, it will be, well, it needs to be given by politicians and not by companies. However, as a European company, we do expect politicians to ensure that a European location remains attractive for investors because that's a big risk that I'm seeing. If we are going to invest billions into our project and this project abides by all the rules and regulations here in Europe, we really need to ask ourselves whether we want any influence from any third country, let this be called into doubt. So to what extent can investors be convinced to invest here in Europe? So I would like to state this quite clearly, but of course, it is not up for us to give the answer. This is a topic to be addressed by politicians.

[Andreas Rinofner, executive]

The next question comes from Charles Fischer, [indiscernible] Management. Actually, 3 questions. I will read them out. The first one refers to carbon capture and storage. What are you planning to do in terms of CCS? So the commercial use of carbon capture and storage is forbidden in Austria.

[Reinhard Florey, executive]

Rainer Seele has reported about CCU, so carbon capture and utilization. We already have a project with our partners, concerning CCS, carbon capture and storage. We are in the process of evaluating what's possible. There are 2 areas that we need to look at, first, the legal framework, we need to create the legal framework for that. Currently, all we have is a pilot project because the volumes are limited. And then there's also the technology side, do we have storage facilities and reservoirs. So it would be technically possible to have CCS or ultra-reservoirs or also storage that is used for gas storage that can also be repurposed for carbon capture and storage. So we're looking at the technical side of things. But of course, the legal framework needs to be created. Otherwise, of course, we can unfortunately not use the technology here in Austria.

[Andreas Rinofner, executive]

Thank you. The second question refers to the new CO2 targets. What is this reduction of emissions by 1 million tonnes mean? And how high are the CO2 emission now? Question asked by Mr. Fischer.

[Thomas Gangl, executive]

So only we have about 12 million tonnes CO2 emissions. One part is in our Downstream assets in the refineries and the gas power plant in Romania. So what we're doing quite clearly is to modernize and increase the efficiency of these plants, and let me give an example. Last year, we started to increase the efficiency of our turbines in the Schwechat refinery. One part of the project was implemented last year. The second phase will be completed in 2 weeks. And thus, we reduced CO2 emissions by 40,000 tonnes per year. That's an enormous reduction, and we want to have similar projects until 2025 in Downstream. But of course, also my colleague Johann Pleininger wants to do the same for Upstream. So this will be a very significant reduction of CO2 emissions.

[Andreas Rinofner, executive]

The last question asked by Mr. Fischer, and that is, at the same time, also the last question that we received in our inbox refers to Gazprom and Nord Stream 2 but in a different way than we are used to. So Gazprom is planning to also transport hydrogen through Gazprom -- through Nord Stream 2. So what's your idea about this?

[Reinhard Florey, executive]

Well, let me emphasize one thing. OMV is one of 5 international financing partners. We're not involved in the operating business of Nord Stream 2. The financing activities are completed, and there will be no further activities. So we can't really answer this question from the operating point of view.

[Rainer Seele, executive]

I would like to add to hydrogen. We know what high potential is involved when you're talking about hydrogen. So the producers have understood this now, and we are now developing technologies in order to produce hydrogen on a larger scale, not only where the consumers are but also where the source of hydrogen is. So I see a very strong development here. So this industry will be expanded in order to make hydrogen available. So on the one hand, the supply is tackled in a very enterprising manner, but the market for hydrogen still needs to develop for such large volumes to be either imported or produced. So my thinking is focused on to what extent the hydrogen market will actually develop. We are seeing some areas, for example, in the steel industry, we're seeing that hydrogen will be used as a reduction agent. We are seeing that the cement industry also wants to find a solution for CO2 emission reductions, but there is also developments in the automotive industry. But hydrogen to be used for mobility, it doesn't exist on a large scale. So if you want to invest here then the market needs to be developed in a more convincing manner.

[Andreas Rinofner, executive]

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Seele. Let me update the inbox. There are no further questions. So at this point, I would like to thank you for your interest. Thank you for your participation. Thank you for your questions. I'd like to thank the Executive Board for the statements and all of the answers given. We all do hope that we will soon be able to meet again in person. Meanwhile, I would like to wish you a pleasant summer. And for New Zealand and Australia, a pleasant winter. Stay healthy and safe.

[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]