OMV AG (OMV.VI), Central Europe 's largest oil and gas company, has seen its production in troubled Libya fall steeply, but it expects oil operations to shortly be back as they were before the uprising in the North African country and has no intention of scaling down its engagement there, said Chief Executive Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer Wednesday.

OMV normally produces some 10% of its total oil and gas production, or about 33,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, in Libya . It's the operator of one smaller oil field, and holds a total of 12 production and exploration licenses in the country.

"The production has been reduced massively, but there's still a small [amount of] production according to our information," Ruttenstorfer said at an interview in Vienna .

Production at the Shateira oil field, which is the only one operated by OMV, was shut down 10 days ago, and remains shut, Ruttenstorfer said.

He said the company still receives supplies from Libya , mainly from the Libyan National Oil Company, with which it still communicates regularly.

"We are still receiving Libyan crude oil, and we will continue to do so," he said, adding that "We are not transferring any money to the Gadhafi clan, but to the state oil company."

Ruttenstorfer said the company, based on its contact with NOC and past experience, is assuming that all supply deals with Libya will be honored also in the future.

He also assumes that the current disruptions to production will be only short term.

"We don't expect there will be any permanent consequences to the production. The disruptions will probably be over in a matter of weeks," he said.

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