OMV revises price assumption, to sell stakes

Austrian exploration and production firm OMV announced Monday that it would take about $1.1 billion in special charges in the third quarter of 2015 as a result of the global oil price slump. Depressed oil prices have caused the company to revise its future oil price assumptions. OMV now assumes a Brent crude price average of $55 in 2016, down from its original assumption of $75, with $5 increases each year until 2019.

The company has reported a daily production decline of 15,000 barrels of oil equivalent from production in the second quarter of 2015 of 307,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

OMV announced separately that it would be divesting up to 49 percent of its shares in natural gas pipeline operator Gas Connect Austria, its wholly owned subsidiary.

“As a first result of the ongoing review of our downstream gas asset portfolio, we decided to divest a minority stake in our regulated gas transportation business in Austria. In times of a difficult oil price environment, we are taking the appropriate measures to both optimise the portfolio and strengthen the group’s cash flow and balance sheet,” OMV executive board member Manfred Leitner said in a company statement.