OMV Petrom cuts carbon intensity of operations in 2022 by 11%

Petrobrazi became the first refinery certified in Romania to produce sustainable aviation fuel. (Photo: OMV Petrom)

OMV Petrom, the largest integrated energy company in southeastern Europe, has published its sustainability report for 2022.

It provides an overview of the economic, environmental and social impact of OMV Petrom’s operations, as well as the commitments and progress towards sustainable development.

“The carbon intensity of our operations decreased last year by around 11 percent vs. the 2019 level,” said Christina Verchere, CEO of OMV Petrom. “Our overarching ambition is to achieve a 30 percent reduction by 2030 compared to 2019. In addition, we reduced our methane-emissions intensity by 70 percent vs. the 2019 level, progressing towards our target of less than 0.2 percent by 2030. OMV Petrom contributes significantly to the economic and social fabric of society. We invested approximately 40 million euros (USD$44 million) in projects for long-term development of the communities in which we operate, for one million direct beneficiaries.”

The company’s sustainability framework is built around three pillars: environment, social and governance “with a clear commitment to run responsible operations, foster people and communities and leverage innovation and digitalization,” the company stated.

In 2022, the company initiated and progressed projects that support its “Strategy 2030” of supplying cleaner energy in a sustainable manner.

The company entered a partnership with Complexul Energetic Oltenia for the construction of four photovoltaic (PV) parks with a total capacity of approximately 450 megawatts (MW), with investments of over 400 million euros (USD$440.4 million). By putting the four parks into operation, Romania’s installed solar-power capacity will increase by 30 percent.

Petrobrazi became the first refinery certified in Romania to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The SAF volumes produced at the Petrobrazi Refinery can help reduce the CO2 emissions from commercial flights by about 70 percent compared to conventional fuel.

In the area of sustainable mobility, more than 100 charging points for electrical vehicles were installed by the end of 2022, to contribute to road-transport decarbonization.

To decarbonize the internal power consumption, the company progressed with the installation of PV panels in the filling stations, reaching 150 filling stations at the end of the year.

OMV Petrom is planning to have photovoltaic panels installed in approximately 50 percent of its filling-station network by 2025. The amount of electricity produced by the PV panels covers up to 25 percent of the consumption of a filling station.

Sustainalytics, an independent ESG-rating agency, included OMV Petrom in the top 5 percent of the oil-and-gas-producers industry, while EcoVadis, another sustainability-ratings agency, awarded OMV Petrom the Silver Supplier status.

The report and information about OMV Petrom’s sustainability initiatives are available at www.omvpetrom.com.

OMV Petrom is the largest integrated energy company in southeastern Europe, with annual hydrocarbon production of approximately 43 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in 2022.

The group has a refining capacity of 4.5 million tons annually and operates an 860 MW high-efficiency power plant.

The group is present on the oil-products retail market in Romania and neighboring countries through approximately 780 filling stations under two brands: OMV and Petrom.