The Austrian OMV is studying Putin’s decree on the nationalization of its assets

The Austrian company OMV is studying the decree of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, according to which it will retain shares in the development companies of the Yuzhno-Russky gas field, in order to protect its rights. This is stated in a message on the company’s website.

Earlier, Putin signed decrees according to which OMV and German Wintershall lost their rights in the companies that were involved in the development of the Yuzhno-Russky oil and gas condensate field and the Achimovsky deposits of the Urengoi field.

OAO “Severneftegazprom” was involved in production at the Yuzhno-Russky field. OMV’s share in it was 24.99%. Other shareholders are Gazprom (40%) and the German company Wintershall (35%), which also lost its share.

According to the decrees, all rights and obligations of joint ventures will be transferred to limited liability companies created by the Russian government.

European companies will receive compensation, the amount of which will be determined by the Russian government, but these funds will be frozen in Russia on accounts of type C. The new owners of shares in the Urengoi field will be the previously unknown LLC “Gazovye tehnologii”, and SOGAZ in the Yuzhno-Russky field.

As reported by “Агентство. Новости”, Wintershall made a sharp public criticism of the Russian authorities after Putin signed a decree on the forced sale of its business. “The presidential decree is another confirmation: Russia is no longer a reliable economic partner and is unpredictable in all respects,” said the company’s press secretary.

The publication clarifies that this is the first case of forced sale of assets of companies from “unfriendly countries”. Before that, Russia had only introduced external management in companies owned by foreigners.

• Wintershall is the largest oil and gas company in Europe, a 72.7% share in it belongs to the BASF concern, the rest to LetterOne. In January, the company announced its intention to leave Russia. In July, the company started a legal department for Western business and enterprises in Russia.
• Austrian OMV announced in March 2022 that it was refusing new investments in Russia and was going to review the fate of the Yuzhno-Russky oil and gas field. The company previously agreed to pay Russia for gas supplies under the new scheme, which was introduced in the country in April last year due to sanctions. According to it, buyers must open two accounts in Gazprombank: currency and ruble. The payment comes to the currency account, and then the bank converts the received funds and credits them to the ruble account.