Assurance statement

Independent assurance report to the management of OMV Petrom S.A.

Scope

We have been engaged by OMV Petrom S.A. (“OMV Petrom”, or the “Company”) to perform a ‘limited assurance engagement’, as defined by International Standards on Assurance Engagements, here after referred to as the engagement, to report on OMV Petrom’s English version of the 2022 Sustainability Report (the “Subject Matter”) for the year ended 31 December 2022.

Criteria applied by OMV Petrom

In preparing the Subject Matter, OMV Petrom applied the Global Reporting Initiative Standards (2021) (the “Criteria”).

OMV Petrom’s responsibilities

OMV Petrom’s management is responsible for selecting the Criteria, and for presenting the Subject Matter in accordance with that Criteria, in all material respects. This responsibility includes establishing and maintaining internal controls, maintaining adequate records and making estimates that are relevant to the preparation of the Subject Matter, such that it is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

EY’s responsibilities

Our responsibility is to express a conclusion on the presentation of the Subject Matter based on the evidence we have obtained.

 

We conducted our engagement in accordance with the International Standard for Assurance Engagements Other Than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information (‘ISAE 3000’) and the terms of reference for this engagement as agreed with OMV Petrom on 13 December 2022.Those standards require that we plan and perform our engagement to obtain limited assurance about whether, in all material respects, the Subject Matter is presented in accordance with the Criteria, and to issue a report. The nature, timing, and extent of the procedures selected depend on our judgment, including an assessment of the risk of material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

 

We believe that the evidence obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our limited assurance conclusions.

Our Independence and Quality Control

We have maintained our independence and confirm that we have met the requirements of the Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants issued by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants, and have the required competencies and experience to conduct this assurance engagement.

 

EY also applies International Standard on Quality Control 1, Quality Control for Firms that Perform Audits and Reviews of Financial Statements, and Other Assurance and Related Services Engagements, and accordingly maintains a comprehensive system of quality control including documented policies and procedures regarding compliance with ethical requirements, professional standards and applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

Description of procedures performed

Procedures performed in a limited assurance engagement vary in nature and timing from, and are less in extent than for a reasonable assurance engagement. Consequently, the level of assurance obtained in a limited assurance engagement is substantially lower than the assurance that would have been obtained had a reasonable assurance engagement been performed. Our procedures were designed to obtain a limited level of assurance on which to base our conclusion and do not provide all the evidence that would be required to provide a reasonable level of assurance.

 

Although we considered the effectiveness of management’s internal controls when determining the nature and extent of our procedures, our assurance engagement was not designed to provide assurance on internal controls. Our procedures did not include testing controls or performing procedures relating to checking aggregation or calculation of data within IT systems.

 

A limited assurance engagement consists of making enquiries, primarily of persons responsible for preparing the Subject Matter and related information, and applying analytical and other appropriate procedures.

Our main procedures included:

  • Conducted interviews with personnel to understand the business and reporting process
  • Conducted interviews with key personnel to understand the process for collecting, collating and reporting the Subject Matter during the reporting period
  • Examine relevant documents at the company’s management level to assess awareness and priority of reporting issues and to understand how progress is being monitored
  • Undertook analytical review procedures to support the reasonableness of the data
  • Tested on a sample basis the information in the Subject Matter against source data and other information prepared by those in charge;
  • Assess whether the Requirements according to the EU Taxonomy regulation have been adequately addressed
  • Test, on a sample basis, the disclosure and presentation of the Subject Matter against the Criteria
  • Site visits at Refinery Petrobrazi, Asset Moldova and Asset Oltenia to obtain evidence of performance indicators.

 

We also performed such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances.

Conclusion

Based on our procedures performed and the evidence obtained, we are not aware of any material modifications that should be made to the Subject Matter for the year ended 31 December 2022, in order for it to be in accordance with the Criteria.

Ernst & Young Assurance Services S.R.L.

20th of April 2023

Bucharest, Romania

Gelu Gherghescu

Partner