OMV bets on chemicals

The Austrian company is accelerating its pivot from the upstream to the down

Central European oil and gas firm OMV completed at the start of November the $4.7bn acquisition of an additional 39pc share in Austrian chemical company Borealis, increasing its stake to 75pc. The deal makes OMV the largest producer of olefins in Europe and one of the largest polyolefin producers worldwide. The firm’s CEO, Rainer Seele, hails the move as “a decisive step in our transformation to position OMV successfully for the future”, both for its diversification and also as a lower-carbon strategy for a producer that is largely eschewing a significant move into renewables. “On the one hand, we are convinced that chemicals and polymers will be without any doubt… needed in 2050 and beyond,