OMV to Pull Out of Italian Market

The Austrian OMV plans on selling their petrol stations in Italy by the end of the year to concentrate on the east European market.

The Austrian oil and gas group OMV announced on Monday that they plan on selling their petrol stations in Italy, and said that they would totally concentrate on eastern Europe.

Pulling out of the Italian market is a part of a wider process of restructuring OMV’s network of petrol stations. As a part of this restructuring which started at the beginning of 2008, they have sold 60 percent or 559 petrol stations in Austria to date, and they plan on selling another 70 this year.

By the end of the year, the company will sell its Italian daughter company, which owns 96 percent of petrol stations in northern Italy.

As is stated in OMV’s statement, the company plans on focusing on markets with the potential of strong growth, like those near the Danube River, south east Europe and the Black Sea region.

“The opposite of that is the Italian market, which is oversaturated and offers very little opportunity for further development” it says in the announcement.

OMV owns 2,524 petrol stations in 13 countries, with a special stress on central and south-east Europe.