OMV New Zealand is a wholly owned subsidiary of Austrian company OMV Aktiengesellschaft. OMV’s business includes the exploration, production, marketing and sale of oil and natural gas. In New Zealand, OMV has interests in the Maui and Pohokura gas fields, the Maari oil field, limited onshore infrastructure assets (eg, tanks and pipelines) associated with the transportation and storage of gas and liquids, and offshore exploration permits.

Royal Dutch Shell is a multi-national British-Dutch oil and gas company. In New Zealand, Shell has interests in the Maui and Pohokura gas fields, as well as a number of onshore infrastructure assets. The primary activities of Shell in New Zealand involve the production and sale of oil, natural gas and LPG. With the proposed acquisition, Shell’s gas and liquids portfolio in New Zealand would transfer to OMV.

A public version of the clearance application will be available shortly on the Commission’s Clearances Register.

Background

We will give clearance to a proposed merger only if we are satisfied that the merger is unlikely to have the effect of substantially lessening competition in a market.

A fact sheet explaining how the Commission assesses a merger application is available on the clearances page.