Following a transfer of staff from the Australian head office in Perth to New Zealand lately, rumours of a complete Perth office shutdown had been repeatedly denied by the Australian management of OMV.

Joint venture partners such as the Japanese-based Cosmo had asked OMV a number of times in recent months to verify the speculation but apparently were reassured it was business as usual and there was no sale in mind.

It was confirmed by sources at this week’s APPEA conference in Canberra that Deutsche Bank had been hawking around an information memorandum for the last few weeks.

The hurried timetable – indicative bids are due the week after Easter – has strengthened speculation that the disposal is virtually a fire sale.

Reinforcing this belief, OMV has privately approached a small number of companies seeking expressions of interest, with ROC Oil, Tap Oil and Apache being named.

Other possible buyers include Santos and Origin Energy.

This strategy indicates OMV wants a quick sale rather than the best price.

OMV Australia’s assets include a 18.5% stake in the Jabiru / Challis field in the Timor Sea, 100% of the Patricia Baleen gas field in the Bass Strait, 40% of the H2S contaminated Sole gas field and a 2.1% interest in the Cooper Basin consortium.

Its string of strategic interests in New Zealand, including Maui, Maari and Pohokura, are not earmarked for disposal.

One of the reasons for the sale process lies with OMV’s parent and its reported bid for Romanian oil company Rompetrol. Having been unsuccessful in its last two takeover bids, and now apparently going head to head with the Occidental group for Rompetrol, it is thought a successful bid would stretch OMV’s finances, hence driving assets sales in other parts of its global portfolio.

OMV representatives at the Canberra conference – either Austrian or Perth-based - refused to be drawn on the matter.

APPEA 2004 Conference news is proudly brought to you by