Exxon, OMV find gas off Romania

Vienna OMV AG, central Europe's biggest oil company, said it discovered what may be its biggest gas find in an offshore well in Romanian waters it is exploring together with a unit of Exxon Mobil Corp.

"The exploration well encountered 70.7 metres of net gas pay, resulting in a preliminary estimate for the accumulation ranging from 1.5 to three trillion cubic feet [42 to 84 billion cubic metres]," OMV said in a statement yesterday.

The Domino-1 well, operated by the Exxon unit, is located in the Neptun Block, 170km offshore in the Romanian sector of the Black Sea in water about 1,000 metres deep, according to the statement.

Drilling started at year-end 2011 and the total depth of the well is expected to be more than 3,000 metres below sea level. OMV Petrom and Exxon each hold 50 per cent in the well.

Biggest ever

"This may be the biggest find in OMV's history," chief executive officer Gerhard Roiss told reporters in Vienna yesterday.

The companies are planning new 3D seismic acquisition during 2012, according to the statement.

While "it is too early in the data evaluation and exploration process to determine whether the Neptun block will ultimately prove to be commercially developable or not", should the companies decide to pursue the project, "further investment during both the exploration and development phases could reach several billion US dollars with the potential for first production towards the end of the decade at the earliest", OMV said.

OMV shares soared in Vienna after the announcement, climbing as much as 5.8 per cent and trading up 4.5 per cent at €28.84 (Dh140.3) in late morning yesterday in the Austrian capital.