Austrian oil company OMV plans to cut twelfth of staff worldwide, Kurier reports (updated)

OMV Petrom SA

05/09/2025 07:06

Adds comments from company in paragraphs 2-3

VIENNA, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Austrian oil, gas and chemicals group OMV OMVV.VI plans to cut 2,000 of its 23,000 worldwide staff, the Kurier newspaper reported.

The company said in a statement to Reuters on Friday that it might need adjustments to ensure the "competitiveness of the group" and it did not rule out what it called personnel measures.

 OMV added that it will announce details on its plans once it completes internal consultations.

Citing staff unions, the paper in a report published on Thursday evening said the company's Romanian subsidiary Petrom SNPP.BX would be especially hit, with cuts also planned at its refinery in southern Germany and in Slovakia.

Chemicals subsidiary Borealis - due to merge with the chemicals business of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), OMV's main shareholder - would be unaffected.

Some 400 of the company's 5,400 positions in Austria would be scrapped.

Labeling the plans a "severe blow" to the Austrian economy, the GPA union warned that industrial action could follow if OMV did not present a "fair" offer to departing staff.

"The possible loss of highly qualified staff is a major loss for Austrian industry," it added.

(Reporting by Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich; Writing by Thomas Escritt and Paolo Laudani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

((alexandra.schwarz@thomsonreuters.com))