FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--Austrian oil and gas company OMV AG (OMV.VI) and the Slovakian peer NAFTA a.s. signed agreements on a long-term partnership, with the goal to jointly explore the Slovakian part of the Vienna basin, covering an exploration license area of approximately 1,400 square kilometers, OMV said Friday.
Work will commence in early 2008 with a seismic program.
OMV said this Exploration and Production, or E&P, expansion is in line with its growth strategy. "The entry into Slovakia is in line with our growth strategy and substantially strengthens our E&P core region Central and Eastern Europe....We consider the possibility of discoveries in these exploration areas as very high and are delighted to be strengthening our exploration portfolio," said Helmut Langanger, OMV Executive Board Member responsible for Exploration and Production.
OMV and NAFTA, each holding 50%, will be joint operators for the Slovak exploration licenses, located in the geologically complex calcareous alpine units of Vienna basin's, a third of which is in Slovakia.