Austrian OMV expects the gas production at Neptun Deep to begin in 2027

Austrian oil-and-gas group OMV announced on Wednesday that gas production is expected to begin in the Black Sea in 2027 as part of their Neptun Deep Project.

The company stated that drilling for the first ten wells began in March. It is expected to take between two and three months.

Neptun Deep is a project that OMV Romania's Romanian subsidiary OMV Petrom, and the state-owned gas company Romgaz invested 4 billion euros (4.55 billion dollars) in. It should yield 8 billion cubic meters per year.

Neptun Deep is estimated to hold 100 billion cubic meters of recoverable natural gas. This makes it one of Europe's largest gas reserves.

Romania will be the EU's biggest gas producer once the project is operational. It will also become a net exporter of gas for the first.

OMV missed its expectations for its adjusted operating results in the first quarter, citing a lower contribution from its Fuels & Feedstock and Energy Divisions.

Vienna-based company reported an operating result for the first three months of 1,16 billion euro, falling 5,7% short of analyst expectations based on a consensus provided by the firm.

Clean operating results are based on current costs of supply and exclude one-off items, short-term gains or losses and energy inventory holdings.

OMV reported lower sales in its energy division earlier this month due to the divestment SapuraOMV and higher liftings in Norway, as well as a "catch-up" effect in Libya. $1 = 0.8785 Euros (Reporting and editing by Christopher Cushing in Gdansk; Additional reporting by Antonis pothitos, Sherry Jab-Phillips, Lincoln Feast, Christopher Cushing)

(source: Reuters)