OMV’s Romanian Operations Stabilize After Brief Power Plant Shutdown

Omv AT0000743059

A swift resolution to an operational disruption in Romania has removed a significant fourth-quarter earnings risk for Austrian energy group OMV. Its subsidiary, OMV Petrom, successfully restarted its key Brazi gas-fired power plant on Friday, following an unplanned shutdown that began on December 2.

The timing of the outage was particularly sensitive, occurring during the high-demand winter period. Romania is a reliable profit center for the OMV group, and a prolonged stoppage at the 860-megawatt facility could have severely impacted quarterly results, given the high cost of securing alternative power supply in winter.