OMV AG to buy Shell assets

AUCKLAND: The Commerce Commission has given Austrian oil and gas producer OMV AG clearance to buy Royal Dutch Shell’s gas and liquids assets in New Zealand.

In March, Royal Dutch Shell announced plans to sell its remaining New Zealand business to OMV AG for US$578 million (NZ$875 million), as part of a US$30 billion international divestment programme. It had already sold its distribution and petrol station assets in 2010 to the company that is now Z Energy, and its 60yearold Kapuni oil and gas field to its joint venture partner in the field, locallyowned Todd Energy.

The assets being sold to OMV AG include its 83.75% stake in the Maui and 48% in Pohokura gas field joint ventures with Todd Energy and the associated physical assets.

The commission’s deputy chair Sue Begg said the regulator was satisfied the acquisition would not substantially lessen competition.

‘‘While OMV will be the largest producer and supplier of natural gas in the immediate future, its overall market share is likely to decline in the longer term, as the Maui field is nearing the end of its life and Pohokura is easing off its peak,’’ Begg said.

She said Todd Energy and Greymouth Petroleum had increased their market shares in the past five years, a trend that was likely to continue in the future.

OMV AG already holds 10% of Maui and 26% of Pohokura. Most of its production assets are in Romania, but it has interests in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. —BusinessDesk