November 22 (SeeNews) - Romania's oil and gas group OMV Petrom [BSE:SNP] said on Thursday that it has discovered new resources in close proximity to existing infrastructure in Valcea county, Oltenia region.
The well 4317 Mamu was drilled as a step out from the existing Mamu field to a depth of some 4,400 meters and confirmed the presence of gas and condensate, the company said in a statement.
Due to its close proximity to the existing infrastructure the well could start production in late October with an initial output of more than 190,000 cu m per day.
Investment for drilling 4317 Mamu well and connecting it to the infrastructure amounted to 10 million euro ($11.3 million), the company said.
"The majority of the gas fields in Romania started producing decades ago, they are mature and the production is declining. OMV Petrom continues to invest in exploration and production activities to mitigate this decline and to ensure security of energy supply," OMV Petrom executive board member responsible for Upstream, Peter Zeilinger, said.
"In the first 10 months of this year, we have ramped up investment by more than 40% compared with the same period of last year and we drilled 89 new wells and sidetracks. This comes in addition to the nine billion euro already invested in Romania, in Upstream between 2005 and 2017."
The Mamu field has been delivering since 1980 and remains one of the top producers in OMV Petrom’s portfolio. Current production from the field amounts to approx. 4,500 boe/day. If used for heating only, the annual gas production from Mamu field could heat around 180,000 households.
At the beginning of the month, OMV Petrom announced that the National Agency for Mineral Resources (NAMR) has approved its takeover of Repsol’s interest in four onshore exploration licences.
Following NAMR’s approval, OMV Petrom becomes sole titleholder and operator of the four exploration blocks - V Baicoi, VI Targoviște, XII Pitesti and XIII Targu Jiu.
OMV Petrom is the largest energy company in Southeast Europe with an annual hydrocarbon production of about 61 million boe in 2017. The group has a refining capacity of 4.5 million tonnes annually and operates an 860 MW high efficiency power plant.
The group is present on the oil products retail market in Romania and neighboring countries through 789 filling stations, as at end of September 2018, under two brands – OMV and Petrom.
OMV, one of the largest listed industrial companies in Austria, holds a 51.01% stake in OMV Petrom. Romania, through the Ministry of Energy, owns 20.64% of OMV Petrom shares, Fondul Proprietatea holds 9.9985%, and 18.35% is in free float on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.
OMV Petrom's shares traded 0.14% lower at 0.3655 lei at 1125 CET on Thursday in Bucharest.
($=0.879 euro)
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