PHOTO
Austrian oil and gas group OMV said on Tuesday it expected a positive impact of around 210 million euros ($215.4 million) on its fourth-quarter earnings from an arbitral award linked to its German gas supply contract with Gazprom.
The Vienna-based firm added the positive net impact would be recorded in the clean operating result of its Gas Marketing & Power business unit.
OMV said in November it had received an award of more than 230 million euros from the International Chamber of Commerce in connection with irregular German gas supplies from Gazprom Export.
In a fourth-quarter trading update, it also said higher fixed costs chiefly due to seasonal impacts would have a mid-double-digit million euro impact on the clean operating result of its chemicals business.
OMV's chemicals division, viewed as a growth engine for the company as it moves away from polluting fossil fuels, produces chemicals used in gas and water pipes, car parts and medical syringes, among other things.
The group's Fuels & Feedstock business was hit by a significantly lower marketing result and higher fixed costs in the quarter, leading to a low double-digit million euro impact on the unit's clean operating result, OMV said.
A clean operating result is based on the current cost of supply, and excludes one-off items and short-term gains and losses from energy inventory holdings.
OMV recorded mixed average energy prices in the fourth quarter, with a 7.4% fall in average realized crude oil price to $72.6 per barrel, while that of natural gas rose 22.9% to 30.6 euros per MWh.
OMV will publish its full fourth-quarter results on Feb. 4.
($1 = 0.9751 euros)
(Reporting by Tristan Veyet and Isabel Demetz in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi)