OMV Plans To Drill Deeper In Libyan "Oildorado" - Der Standard, Austria
(OMV Will Im Oldorado Libyen Tiefer Bohren)
Der Standard - Austria, November 23
Austrian petrochemical group OMV, which currently extracts around 20,000 barrels
of oil in Libya, plans to double the volume within the coming five years. If current
exploration in the Khufrah basin proves successful, the company hopes to take on
a block and is considering taking over operational management. OMV has already
achieved success in the Murzuq basin, and, at the weekend, the consortium
passed the 100 million barrel mark in exports from the field. However, OMV owns
only 7.5 per cent of the field, other members of the consortium being the
French-based Totalfina (7.5 per cent), the Spanish-based Repsol (which holds 10
per cent and the operational management) and the Libyan state-owned National
Oil Corp (75 per cent).
According to OMV exploration director Marc Hall, it will take two years for the billions
invested in the desert to pay off (the consortium has invested $1.5bn, of which
$225m invested by OMV). The secured reserves in the three El-Sharara oilfields
show a volume of 730 million barrels, the fourth field, currently undergoing drilling
by the consortium, could hold a further 200 million barrels. |
