OMV to Step up Austrian Drilling
Austria’s OMV said September 29 it plans to drill 12 exploration and production wells in 2017 for both oil and gas in the Weinviertel area, Lower Austria.
It plans to increase investments in the Austrian upstream by about 40% over the medium term but adds that “one key precondition is an oil price environment that also permits such investment.”
The increased investments are already included in the OMV Group global capital investment guidance of €2.4bn for 2017/2018.
Thanks to the use of steam injection and other technology in Austria, said OMV upstream chief Johann Pleininger: “We manage to extract up to 60% of the available crude oil and up to 90% of available natural gas.” This compared with recovery rates elsewhere of 40% for oil and 80% for gas.
OMV upstream chief Johann Pleininger (Photo credit: OMV)
About half of OMV’s global 303,000 barrels of oil equivalent in 2015 was produced in Romania and 10% in Austria.
OMV's planned asset swap with Gazprom, announced on April 1, meanwhile appears to have come up against a hurdle in Norway, with reports that authorities in Oslo want to block Gazprom from taking over more than 25% of OMV's assets in Norway. OMV has so far declined to comment, but Norway's Petroleum and Energy Ministry told NGW it is "aware that the two companies are talking about closer cooperation [but that] no such agreement appears to have been submitted to the ministry. Beyond this, we have no comments on this matter."
OMV has confirmed the sale of its 0.554% interest in the Ivar Aasen oil and gas field to Norwegian independent Okea, set up in 2015, of which the chief commercial officer is former Norwegian oil minister Ola Borten Moe. OMV said the sale was part of its effort to optimize its upstream portfolio. It did not give a transaction value. The sale was reported in Norwegian media on September 28. Okea did not respond to a NGW enquiry about the deal. Ivar Aasen is operated by Det Norske, is planned to start up in 4Q 2016, and has 204mn boe of gross reserves.
Mark Smedley