Austrian oil and gas company OMV has said it will expand the role of its headquarters and create more than 250 new, high-skilled jobs in the country’s capital Vienna. 

In a statement on Friday OMV noted it had achieved significant growth in recent years as well as adopted a more international focus.

The company said: “A high degree of digitization along with centralized data collection and processing represent key success factors in every activity. But they also require the corresponding core competencies to be bundled together.

“Austria has a proven track record as home to the OMV Group’s research and innovation center, from where digital technologies will increasingly be developed and rolled out internationally.”

This is why OMV is expanding the role of the group’s headquarters in Vienna. According to the company, as a global governance and business center, the headquarters will be responsible in future for all group-wide activities in Finance and HR, as well as digitization and IT. The transformation will be implemented in stages by the end of 2020.

Rainer Seele, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of OMV: “With this move we are creating more than 250 new, high-skilled jobs in Austria, where our roots lie. This will facilitate global steering from Vienna, as well as allowing us to drive forward digitization, technology development and innovation.”

OMV announced this new approach on Friday in Vienna in the course of a joint press conference with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

“I welcome every additional job created in Austria. This not only sends a positive signal to the labor market, but also benefits Austria as a business location. What’s more, it bolsters us in implementing our digitization offensive,” said the Austrian Chancellor.