Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and OMV's CEO Rainer Seele came together last week in Vienna's Hofburg Palace to champion the virtues of strengthening energy relations with Russia and Norway in general and extending the Nord Stream Gas Pipeline System in particular.

Schroeder said that "Russia plays a central role in the question of how we Europeans can secure our energy supply. Norway and Russia are the most secure and reliable energy partners for Europe. As Europeans we need to establish deeper economic and political ties with Russia." Seele echoed this sentiment: "OMV is striving to contribute to stability. We stand for security of supply of oil and gas. Security of supply means finding partners, achieving broad diversification and overcoming barriers. Security of supply also means investments such as those in the Nord Stream II pipeline project."

OMV has had an ongoing agreement with Gazprom since 1968 to supply natural gas to Austria and Europe. Gerhard Schröder has been the Chairman of the Board of the European-Russian consortium Nord Stream AG since 2006 and presented the project at the 2nd Pipeline Technology Conference in 2007; he was Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005.