About

International, integrated oil and gas company, OMV is one of Austria’s largest industrial companies with over 24,000 employees. Head of all legal affairs and corporate governance matters at this industry leading energy company is general counsel Julia Friebel. She joined the company in 2002 as chief counsel for OMV’s Exploration and Production business but was promoted to general counsel of the Group in 2011. In 2013, Friebel played a key role in negotiating and executing a deal to buy Statoil-owned assets in the North Sea for a transaction value $2.65bn, an important strategic agreement which facilitated OMV’s ability to start producing oil and in Norway. In addition to handling all legal matters relating to OMV’s entry into new territories, its large investment projects and a number of divestments in recent years are features of Freibel’s recent work. She has also been a contributor when working on a number of strategic agreements with Gazprom such as the 2015 resolution of a strategic cooperation with the Russian company. This year, Friebel has been commended for the role she played in the company’s €1.39bn sale of its wholly owned subsidiary OMV Petrol Ofisi to Vitol Group. Having held in-house legal positions at energy companies since 1989, Friebel is one of the Austria’s most experienced and revered counsels. She graduated from Ruhr University Bochum in 1986 and was admitted to the German Bar in in 1989.