ROISS, OMV: "The resources in the Black Sea, the key to the future of the Romanian and European economy"

The recent finds following the explorations of OMV-Petrom in the off-shore Neptun block indicate significant caches of natural gas and oil on the Romanian shelf of the Black Sea.

The company still has to make some major exploitation work to do to confirm these important deposits, but Gerhard Roiss, the president and CEO of OMV, considers that the exploitation of the resources in the Black Sea represents the key to the future development of the Romanian and European economy.

Yesterday in London, he said that the natural gas from the Black Sea can be carried to Europe through Nabucco West, a natural gas pipeline which will also supply European consumers with natural gas from the Caspian Sea region. Nabucco West will be connected to the TANAP pipeline, developed by Turkey and Azerbaijan, which will allow the gas from the Black Sea to reach Turkey as well, a country with a constantly growing demand for energy.

The head of OMV said that the investment plans of the company will focus on the exploration and production of crude and natural gas in the Black Sea and the North Sea. In a few years, about two thirds of the annual investments of the Austrian group will go towards that.

The findings in the Neptun block have encouraged the OMV group to take on the exploration of the Khan Asparuk block in Bulgaria and the Skifska blocks in Ukraine.

These two areas are both located in the Black Sea as well, immediately near the Neptun block, where the first results of the tests have revealed a potential of 42+82 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

Jaap Huijskes, member the board of OMV in charge of exploration and production, said that the target of the Austrian group for 2014 is to maintain the output of the old exploration fields in Romania and Austria at a value of 200-210 thousands BOE (barrels of oil equivalent) per day. For that purpose, the company will implement new production technologies and costly investments.

The objective of OMV to increase the development projects by 60% in the area of exploration and production still stands and will bring about an increase in output of about 350 thousand BOE per day, starting in 2016.

Manfred Leitner, member of the Board of OMV in charge of refining and marketing, said that the Arpechim refinery has been shutdown permanently, whereas at the Brazi refinery, the modernization program will end in 2014. The total investments at Brazi amount to about 600 million Euros. The modernization program began in 2008.