Austrian oil and gas group OMV said on Thursday it expected higher energy prices to more than offset disruptions to production and sales volumes caused by the war in the Middle East.
Oil and gas prices soared following the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran and subsequent Iranian strikes against Israel, US bases and Gulf states, a conflict that all but halted shipments of about one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz.
OMV recorded higher average energy prices in the first quarter of 2026, with the average price of natural gas rising by 17.8 per cent compared to the fourth quarter. Average realised crude oil price rose by nearly 20 per cent quarter-on-quarter to $73.8 per barrel, the Vienna-based group said in a trading statement.
However, production fell to 288,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, down from 300,000 barrels in the previous quarter, the group said.
OMV said it expected interruptions to the flow of crude oil to reduce first-quarter earnings by roughly €100 million ($117 million) compared to the previous three months. It also flagged a further €150-million hit to earnings mainly due to lower margins in its retail and commercial businesses.
The ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump on Tuesday is contingent on Iran pausing its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Around 130 million barrels of crude oil and 46 million barrels of refined fuels are currently floating on roughly 200 tankers in the region, according to data from analytics firm Kpler.
(Reporting by Danny Callaghan and Bernadette Hogg in Gdansk; editing by Milla Prussak-Nissi)
