By Hadi Fornaji.
Tripoli, 20 July:
OMV has announced that their . . .[restrict]profits in the second financial quarter have risen, boosted by the recovery of oil production in Libya.
Overall production in the 17 countries where the Austrian company operates rose from 299,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in the first quarter of this year to 305,000. The Vienna-based company said recovery in Libyan output was a key factor.
Before the revolution, Libya had supplied a tenth of OMV’s liftings. Exploration and production was suspended during the fighting. The knock-on effect of this was reflected in a 20% drop in profits.
The Chief Executive Officer of OMV, Gerhard Roiss, had said in September that it could take up to 18 months for Libyan oil production to return to pre-war levels. However, since OMV re-established its presence here, reopening their Tripoli office last November production has recovered rapidly. In the first quarter of 2012, production reached 25,000 bopd and is now returning to its pre-war rate of 34,000 bopd.
OMV has been in Libya since 1975. It underwent major expansion in 1985 with the acquisition of part of the oil and gas assets of American oil company, Occidental Petroleum, when it was obliged to pull out of Libya.
In 2008, under the new Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement IV (EPSA) with National Oil Corporation, OMV’s contracts in blocks NC115 and NC186 in the Murzuk Basin, were extended until 2032. [/restrict]
