OMV Finds New Black Sea Oil Off Romania

Austria's OMV finds a new oil reservoir in the Black Sea off Romania.

VIENNA, July 16 (Reuters) – Austrian energy group OMV said it had found a new oil reservoir in the Black Sea off Romania with production potential of 1,500 to 2,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d).

The reservoir in the shallow-water Istria XVIII offshore perimeter was identified by OMV's Marina 1 exploration well at a cost of around 19 million euros ($26 million), OMV said.

"In the following months, OMV Petrom will evaluate the results of the Marina 1 well and assess its commercial viability in order to develop and start production from the new reservoir," it said in a statement on Wednesday.

If the discovery is judged to be commercially viable, OMV said, it could start production over the next three to four years, and would require investment of over 100 million euros.

Production from shallow waters accounts for 18 percent of OMV's hydrocarbons production in Romania, which along with Austria accounts for 70 percent of OMV's total production.

The company's production target this year is 310-330 boe/d.

($1 = 0.7374 Euros)

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan, editing by William Hardy)

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