OMV AG is planning to increase its Central European electric vehicle charging points by fourfold as battery-powered cars gain traction across the region.
The Austrian energy giant sees trends in electric mobility also boosting its gas business, with surging demand for electricity requiring all power sources, according to Chief Executive Officer Alfred Stern.
Europe “will need natural gas longer and in greater volumes” than previously forecast, the 60-year-old CEO said in an interview. The company doubled the number of fast-charging points across Central Europe over the past 12 months and expects to be operating about 5,000 of them by 2030.
“There’s a significant electricity hunger out there,” said Berislav Gaso, who runs the company’s energy division. “We’ll need gas actually to balance our power grid in the future. Gas is what we’re chasing.”
While the Vienna-based company’s legacy oil production will still generate cash, Stern said investments will increasingly be funneled toward markets with higher growth potential.
The strategy, which focuses on everything from electricity to sustainable-aviation fuel, is moving against a broader pivot from some energy majors back toward oil. The Trump administration in the US has been mounting pressure on the International Energy Agency to dial back peak crude forecasts, while oil majors have revised expectations to suggest demand will grow further into the future.
Stern urged European regulators to stick by ambitious climate targets, but encouraged more visibility on the direction of carbon pricing in the region. OMV expects CO2 emissions to trade in the range of €70 ($81.77) to €110 a ton between 2026 and 2030 — roughly the same levels they’ve been at over the past five years. On Tuesday, permits for a ton of carbon emissions traded at €78.90 on Amsterdam’s ICE Endex exchange.
Stern said regulations should focus on raising the cost of emissions rather than prescribing technologies.
Even after cutting capital expenditures €3.5 billion over the next four years — a consequence of its chemicals mega-merger announced in March — the company is continuing to pour cash into sustainability investments. OMV broke ground on one of Europe’s biggest green-hydrogen plants, while it’s also investing in geothermal heating and holds key plastic-recycling patents.
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