VIENNA: Austrian energy group OMV said it had reached an interim deal with Gazprom over their long-term gas-supply contract, bringing prices closer to market conditions.
The agreement, backdated to April 1, will help OMV’s struggling EconGas unit, and the company said yesterday there was a possibility to review the terms again in the near future. It gave no details of the changes.
OMV had been negotiating for months with Gazprom to adjust the terms of the contract, which indexed gas prices to oil prices. Crude oil prices have persisted at high levels in the last two years while the European gas market has seen prices fall.
The European Commission is investigating Russia’s Gazprom, which supplies a quarter of Europe’s gas needs, for suspected anti-competitive behaviour including overcharging customers by linking the price of its gas to oil.
The problems of EconGas were a major factor in continuing losses at OMV’s Gas and Power unit last quarter. OMV recently succeeded in renegotiating a similar long-term gas supply agreement with Norway’s Statoil.
OMV’s Gas and Power chief Hans-Peter Floren said on Monday: “This interim agreement together with the recently adjusted terms of the agreement with Statoil... enables EconGas to deliver an improved performance in the near future.”
OMV shares were up 1.5 percent to ¤35.07 by 1201 GMT, the top gainers in a flat European oil and gas index.
Reuters
