OREANDA-NEWS. The partners Statoil (operator), OMV and GDF SUEZ have started oil and gas production on the Gudrun platform in the North Sea. OMV acquired a 24% interest in the Gudrun license in last year's major deal with Statoil. The development is an important step for OMV to achieve its strategic targets for 2016.

OMV CEO Gerhard Roiss: "With the acquisition of the North Sea assets, OMV has taken the right steps to diversify its sources for oil and gas and invest in the upstream growth areas of Europe. The North Sea is a key factor in our profitable growth strategy and our Norwegian interests are steadily contributing to OMV's goal of securing a greater production share from stable OECD countries."

Gudrun (PL025) is a North Sea oil and gas field in which OMV (Norge) AS holds 24%, with Statoil as the operator (51%) and GDF SUEZ E&P Norge as an additional partner with 25%. The decision to develop the Gudrun field was taken in 2010 and the production start in 2014 is on time and below the cost estimate in the PDO (plan for development and operation).

Jaap Huijskes, OMV Executive Board member responsible for Exploration and Production: "The reservoir is at a depth of 4,200 to 4,700 m in the middle of the Norwegian sector of the North Sea and the platform will produce from seven production wells. Gudrun is expected to produce in a range from 35 to 45 mn boe net for OMV."

OMV Aktiengesellschaft

With Group sales of EUR 42.42 bn and a workforce of around 27,000 employees in 2013, OMV Aktiengesellschaft is Austria's largest listed industrial company. The Exploration and Production business segment has a strong base in Romania and Austria and a growing international portfolio. 2013 daily production stood at approx. 288,000 boe/d. In Gas and Power, OMV sold approximately 425 TWh of gas in 2013. OMV operates a gas pipeline network in Austria and gas storage facilities in Austria and Germany with a capacity of 2.6 bcm. In Refining and Marketing OMV has an annual refining capacity of 17.4 mn tonnes and as of the end of 2013 approximately 4,200 filling stations in 11 countries including Turkey.