OMV Green Hydrogen Pivot: 140 MW Masdar JV, €25 M Plant, and Exit from Public Refueling (2021-2025)

Industrial Decarbonization Focus, OMV’s Green Hydrogen Shift from Mobility to Refining

In 2025, OMV Group executed a significant strategic consolidation, exiting the nascent and capital-intensive public hydrogen mobility market to focus its resources on developing industrial-scale green hydrogen production dedicated to decarbonizing its own refinery operations. This pivot clarifies OMV‘s role in the energy transition, prioritizing large-scale, captive-demand projects that leverage its existing industrial assets and reduce immediate market risk. The move aligns OMV with other integrated energy companies like Phillips 66 that see the most direct path to hydrogen viability through internal consumption for producing sustainable fuels.

The 2021-2024 Pilot and Exploration Phase

Between 2021 and 2024, OMV’s hydrogen activities were characterized by smaller-scale pilots and a dual focus on both industrial use and public mobility. The company maintained a network of public hydrogen refueling stations, exploring the potential of the consumer transport market. This period was defined by learning and technological evaluation, including preparatory work for its first electrolyzer, but lacked a singular, large-scale strategic direction, reflecting the broader industry’s uncertainty about the most viable near-term hydrogen applications.

The 2025 Strategic Pivot to Industrial Scale

The year 2025 marked a decisive shift with three critical and near-simultaneous actions that redefined OMV‘s strategy.

• In April 2025, OMV announced the closure of Austria’s entire public hydrogen refueling station network, signaling a clear retreat from the light-duty vehicle market to avoid further high-risk infrastructure investment with uncertain demand.
• Concurrent with this exit, the company commissioned its first industrial-scale green hydrogen plant, a 10 MW facility at the Schwechat refinery, moving directly from pilot phase to commercial operation to decarbonize its own processes.
• Shortly after, OMV announced a final investment decision (FID) for a 140 MW green hydrogen plant in Bruck an der Leitha, committing a “mid-three-digit million-euro sum” to a project designed entirely to serve its refinery’s needs.

€25 M+ Investment, OMV’s Green Hydrogen Projects in Austria and Romania

In 2025, OMV Group’s financial commitments to hydrogen graduated from pilot-scale funding to substantial capital allocations for industrial projects, anchored by the final investment decision for its flagship 140 MW facility. This spending demonstrates a clear strategy to build production capacity for captive use, directly supporting the company’s targets for sustainable fuels and the decarbonization of its core refining assets in Austria and Romania.

Flagship 140 MW Plant Investment

The centerpiece of OMV‘s hydrogen investment is the FID made in May 2025 for a new 140 MW electrolysis plant in Bruck an der Leitha, Lower Austria. This project represents a “mid-three-digit million-euro” investment and is designed to produce up to 23, 000 tons of green hydrogen annually. This commitment signals a move to secure a large-scale, reliable supply of green hydrogen for its refining operations, insulating the company from future volatility in the third-party hydrogen market.

Foundational Schwechat & Petrobrazi Investments

The larger investment was preceded by a foundational €25 million investment in a 10 MW green hydrogen plant at the Schwechat refinery, which became operational in April 2025. This project provided crucial operational experience with PEM electrolysis at an industrial scale. Concurrently, OMV expanded its regional footprint through its subsidiary, OMV Petrom, which began construction on a new unit at the Petrobrazi refinery in Romania that includes a 20 MW hydrogen production capacity to support its sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) production goals.

Table: OMV Group Key Green Hydrogen Investments and Cancellations (2025)

OMV Masdar Joint Venture for 140 MW Green Hydrogen Plant (2025)

OMV‘s primary mechanism for executing its large-scale hydrogen ambitions is the formation of strategic partnerships to de-risk major capital expenditures and leverage external expertise. This approach was solidified in 2025 with the binding agreement to form a joint venture with Abu Dhabi’s Masdar, a move that secures the financing and operational capacity for one of Europe’s largest planned electrolysis plants. This collaborative model is becoming a standard for energy majors like Total Energies, which also uses partnerships to underwrite its large hydrogen projects.

The Masdar JV for the 140 MW Plant

The landmark agreement of 2025 was the November signing of a binding agreement with Masdar to finance, construct, and operate the 140 MW green hydrogen plant. Under the terms, Masdar will take a 49% share in the joint venture, sharing a significant portion of the “mid-three-digit million-euro” investment. This partnership is critical for validating the project’s commercial model and mitigating the financial risk associated with such a capital-intensive venture, particularly in a market where other large hydrogen projects have been postponed.

Broader Alliances with Abu Dhabi Entities

The Masdar deal is reinforced by OMV’s deepening strategic alignment with major Abu Dhabi-based energy companies. In March 2025, OMV reached an agreement with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to combine their polyolefins businesses, Borealis and Borouge. While not a hydrogen project, this multibillion-dollar chemical venture underscores a pattern of building deep, long-term partnerships with UAE entities, creating a stable framework that supports broader energy transition goals, including capital-intensive green hydrogen projects. This contrasts with the more organic, domestic growth strategies of some U.S. refiners like Valero.

Table: OMV Group Strategic Partnerships (2025)

Austria and Romania Focus, OMV’s Regional Hydrogen Production Strategy

OMV‘s green hydrogen strategy is geographically concentrated in Central and Eastern Europe, leveraging the locations of its core industrial assets in Austria and Romania as anchor points for new production facilities. This regional focus allows the company to build an integrated ecosystem where green hydrogen production directly feeds into its existing refineries for the production of sustainable fuels, creating a contained and efficient value chain.

Austrian Hub for Large-Scale Production

Austria serves as the hub of OMV‘s hydrogen ambitions, home to both its first operational plant and its next major project. The 10 MW electrolyzer at the Schwechat refinery provides an immediate, albeit small, reduction in the facility’s carbon footprint. The planned 140 MW plant in Bruck an der Leitha, located nearby, is positioned to supply the same refinery, cementing Austria’s role as the center of OMV‘s large-scale hydrogen production and industrial decarbonization efforts.

Romanian Expansion for Sustainable Fuels

Beyond Austria, OMV is extending its hydrogen strategy to Romania through its majority-owned subsidiary, OMV Petrom. Construction began in February 2025 on a sustainable fuels unit at the Petrobrazi refinery, which includes a 20 MW green hydrogen production facility. The hydrogen produced here will be used as a feedstock for a new 250, 000 tons-per-year SAF and HVO plant, demonstrating a clear model of regional expansion where hydrogen production is developed in lockstep with demand from sustainable fuel manufacturing.

PEM Electrolysis at Commercial Scale, OMV’s 10 MW Plant and 140 MW Project

In 2025, OMV successfully advanced Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) electrolysis from a technology under evaluation to an operational, industrial-scale component of its refining process. The commissioning of the 10 MW Schwechat plant provided the critical validation needed to proceed with a project more than ten times its size, confirming the technology’s readiness for large-scale deployment in decarbonizing industrial operations.

From Pilot to Production (2021-2024)

The period leading up to 2025 involved extensive planning and evaluation of electrolysis technologies. While OMV participated in various studies and small-scale initiatives, it had not yet committed to a large-scale deployment. The focus was on assessing the technical feasibility and economic viability of integrating green hydrogen production into its complex refinery environments, setting the stage for the investment decisions to come.

Operational Validation in 2025

The start-up of the 10 MW PEM electrolyzer at the Schwechat refinery on April 30, 2025, was the year’s most important technological milestone for OMV. With a production capacity of 1, 500 metric tons per year, the plant provided tangible proof that green hydrogen could be produced reliably and integrated directly into the refinery’s existing processes for hydrotreating bio-based fuels. This operational success was a key de-risking event that directly supported the final investment decision for the much larger 140 MW facility just a month later.

OMV SWOT Analysis for Green Hydrogen Strategy (2021-2025)

OMV‘s strategic pivot in 2025 successfully leveraged its core industrial strengths to create a focused and de-risked hydrogen business case, but it also concentrated execution risk on a small number of large, capital-intensive projects. The shift away from a fragmented strategy toward large-scale captive use validated its industrial logic while increasing its dependence on successful project delivery and stable renewable energy markets.

Table: SWOT Analysis for OMV’s Green Hydrogen Strategy

140 MW Project Execution, OMV’s Critical Path for Hydrogen Leadership

The successful and on-schedule execution of the 140 MW Bruck an der Leitha project now represents the single most critical factor in OMV‘s green hydrogen strategy. Progress on its construction and the formal closing of the Masdar joint venture are the key near-term signals to monitor in 2026, as they will determine if the company can convert its strategic ambitions into operational reality.

• If the joint venture with Masdar is formally closed in early 2026 as planned, this will confirm the project’s financial and governance structure is secure, clearing the path for major construction activities.
• Watch for announcements of key construction milestones from partners STRABAG and Siemens Energy for the 140 MW plant. Any reported delays would be a primary indicator of execution risk and could impact the planned 2027 start-up.
• Monitor the progress of the 20 MW hydrogen unit and associated SAF/HVO plant at the Petrobrazi refinery in Romania. This project is a test case for OMV‘s ability to replicate its integrated hydrogen-for-biofuels model in other regions.
• The announcement of long-term renewable Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) sufficient to supply the 140 MW facility will be a crucial signal. Securing this green electricity is a critical dependency for the project’s success and “green” classification.

The questions your competitors are already asking

This report covers one angle of OMV’s green hydrogen strategy. The questions that matter most depend on your work.

• OMV hydrogen renewable energy supply
• European refinery hydrogen projects
• OMV Masdar plant construction progress
• Green hydrogen production cost at refineries

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