OREANDA-NEWS. OMV has closed the sale of its 45% stake in the German Bayernoil refinery network as planned on June 30, 2014. Gerhard Roiss, CEO of OMV: "With the closing of this transaction, OMV has once again proven its ability to implement the newly focused business strategy announced in 2011." Since then, OMV has sold, among others, the filling station networks in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia as well as the lubricants business. All transactions have significantly improved the cash position of the Company.

"This transaction represents the biggest step in the defined divestment program, targeting proceeds of up to EUR 1 bn by the end of 2014. With the sale of Bayernoil, OMV’s optimization of the refinery portfolio is completed. The remaining OMV refineries are exceptionally integrated into crude and/or petrochemicals with the associated competitive advantages in our core markets", said Manfred Leitner, Executive Board member responsible for Refining and Marketing.

OMV continues to operate three refineries with an annual capacity of around 17.4 mn tons: those in Schwechat (Austria) and Burghausen (Southern Germany) feature integrated petrochemical production, while the refinery in Petrobrazi (Romania) is completely dedicated to processing Romanian crude oil and, therefore, 100% integrated with the upstream business.