OMV Plans to Explore for Oil With Sweden's Lundin in Sudan
By Gabrielle Monaghan
Vienna, May 3 (Bloomberg) -- OMV AG, Austria's biggest oil producer and refiner, said it will explore for oil in southern Sudan with three other companies, including Sweden's Lundin Oil AB, after discovering oil in a nearby area two years ago.
The Vienna-based company said it signed an agreement with Lundin, Malaysia's Petronas Carigali (Overseas) Sdn Bhd., and Sudan-based Sudapet to search for oil in the Muglad Basin. OMV and Lundin will each own 25 percent of the well.
``This agreement expands OMV's position in the world-class Muglad hydrocarbon basin, where substantial oil reserves have been proven, and currently more than 200,000 barrels of oil a day are being produced in the neighboring blocks,'' management board member Gerhard Roiss said in a statement.
OMV said the exploration would help the economy in Sudan, which is in the midst of an 18-year civil war that has killed more than 2 million people. The conflict has attracted increased worldwide interest since Sudan began producing oil in June 1999, exporting 64 million barrels in the year ended Aug. 1.
Today's announcement comes less than two weeks after OMV said it won a four-year contract to drill near one of Iran's biggest oil fields. OMV has said it wants to produce half of the crude oil it refines three years from now, up from a 40 percent now. |
