OMV Aktiengesellschaft announced that the discovery and successful testing of oil in offshore Sirte Basin, 40 kilometers southwest of Benghazi in Libya.

The A1-NC202 exploration well in Block NC202 reached a total depth of 4,820 meters and tested a natural flow rate of up to 1,264 bbl/d from the Eocene Dernah Formation.

A top company official said that this is OMV’s first oil discovery in offshore Libya. I am very pleased with this new discovery OMV’s first offshore discovery in Libya an elated Kurt Wagner.

The block NC202 forms part of a package of exploration blocks including the neighbouring offshore block NC201, NC199, NC200, NC203 and NC204 which were awarded to Repsol and OMV in June 2003.

OMV holds a 14% interest in this package. The other partners are the National Oil Corporation of Libya and Repsol which acts as operator and holds the remaining 21%.

The European energy giant holds a balanced international E&P portfolio in 19 countries structured around six core regions, namely CEE, North Africa, Northwestern Europe, the Middle East, Australia/New Zealand and Russia/Caspian Region.

The group's daily production volume is 317,000 boe/d and the company's proven reserves at the end of 2008 were 1.21 billion boe.

OMV took a major step in Libya in 1985, when it acquired 25% of Occidental Petroleum’s producing assets. Since then OMV has considerably expanded its operations in the country.

(Sourced from TradeArabia)