OMV Petrom started to expand its low carbon activities by including new zero and low carbon products and services into the portfolio for which EUR 3.7 bn investments, around 35% of cumulated CAPEX by 2030, are committed.
Our decarbonization plans encompass a wide range of ambitious targets including renewable energy, sustainable fuels, and mobility. In the future, we anticipate investing up to EUR 2 billion (out of the total of EUR 3.7 bn) after the assessment of the technical and commercial viability of new technologies such as Carbon Capture, Utilization or Storage (CCUS) or hydrogen production. Carbon capture and storage is expected to contribute to the achievement of our target of capturing over 2 million tons of carbon dioxide each year by 2030, while hydrogen production will help decarbonize the industrial sector in Romania beyond 2030.
With the development and demonstration of innovative carbon capture and conversion technologies, OMV Petrom is an active partner in an ambitious European project addressing CO2 emissions from major industrial sectors. 19 partners (companies, Universities, and NGOs) from seven countries participate in the “ConsenCUS” project, which focuses on testing technologies in three industries: cement production, magnesia production, and oil refining. The technologies that will be tested in 2024 at Petrobrazi will capture the CO2 from flue gases released by the Cogeneration unit, further converting them electrochemically into marketable products.
In order to achieve the strategic goal of installing more than 1 GW of renewable capacity by 2030, a significant project will be carried out in collaboration with Complexul Energetic Oltenia. Four photovoltaic (PV) parks with a combined capacity of about 450 MW will be built by the two companies. The PV parks should begin supplying electricity to the national energy system in 2024, according to current projections. The four parks will enhance Romania’s installed solar power capacity by almost 30%.
In 2022, we continued to develop a strong portfolio of circular economy projects and initiatives with different phases of implementation:
- Bio-Ethanol 2nd Generation – OMV Petrom plans to exceed 15% biofuel from the total fuel production in 2030, with 450 kt/year of sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel and 150 kt/year of second-generation ethanol from straws
- Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)/Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) production – In Petrobrazi Refinery, the first batch of sustainable aviation fuel was produced by co-processing locally produced rapeseed oil. As such, Petrobrazi is the first ISCC certified refinery in the country to produce SAF and HVO. The SAF volumes produced at the Petrobrazi refinery for commercial flights will help reduce the CO2 emissions by about 70% compared to the conventional fuel.
Another relevant example of circularity is our unique public-private partnership project between private companies, NGOs and 256 educational institutions, named “Let’s Click on Romania”, where OMV Petrom sponsors 50% of the project. During this initiative, 4,000 computers were refurbished and donated to public schools and NGOs. With this occasion, we avoided the emission of over 576,000 kg of CO2 which is approximately the CO2 quantity absorbed by 29,262,600 trees in one day.
Advanced Recovery
OMV Petrom E&P continued to focus its efforts on implementing Advanced Recovery projects to increase the recovery factor of its oil fields and assess the feasibility of their full implementation. By reducing abrasion and corrosion, we aim to extend the lifetime of operational facilities. The OMV Group developed a special polymer lining for tubing that has been patented in 16 countries, including Romania (OMV Petrom), to insert crosslinked polyethylene pipes. Pilot tests were also conducted under different operating conditions on polymer flow lines.
The target for 2025 in E&P division is to increase the recovery factor of our fields with implementation of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) technologies across a variety of fields, one of them is the injection of viscous saltwater.
The viscous saltwater injection started in Vața oil field in May 2022. After six months of injection of viscous saltwater, the first reaction could be observed and some wells responded by doubling the rate.
Research and development activities
As Romania’s only scientific research center dedicated to the oil industry, ICPT Câmpina continues to provide support and expertise to OMV Petrom – E&P as part of the new value center Business Excellence.
The professionalism and care with which every incoming request is treated here, has been acknowledged also by third-party audits performed by RENAR (Romanian National Accreditation Organism) or by SRAC (Romanian certification body with the largest recognition of the marks and certificates nationwide).
Furthermore, recently the capabilities existing here have been audited by CNCAN (National Commission for Nuclear Activities Control) which recognized the Reservoir Water and Environmental Evaluation laboratory as one of the remarkable laboratories in Romania.
The research activity continued this year with 44 ongoing projects, of which 26 were directly run by our own specialists, in many others ICPT being the main contributor. The topics covered by the research activity included:
- Methods for increasing the oil field recovery factor
- Risk reduction in the exploration and production activities (reviewing the geological age of mechanical cores and/ or sieve samples and correlating with rock samples from outcrops)
- Corrosion mitigation
- Improvement of water treatment performance in the injection processes
- CCS (Carbon capture and Sequestration) and geothermal domains
The close collaboration with OMV Head Office and the Technology Center & Laboratory Gaenserndorf continued this year, both laboratories being involved in the new area of research represented by CCS or Geothermal projects.
Through our innovation and circular economy activities, we support UN Sustainable Development Goals related to innovation and climate change:
SDG 9 – target 9.5 – by enhancing scientific research and innovation for upgrading the technological capabilities of our industrial sector
SDG 12 – target 12.a – our circular economy initiatives and innovation contribute to strengthening the scientific and technological capacity in the region
- SDG 13 – target 13.1 – by focusing our innovation activities on decarbonization aimed at increasing economic resilience to climate change in our communities, minimizing the number of potentially affected members of community
