OMV involved in pipeline project

Austrian OMV petroleum company, which has recently become majority shareholder of Petrom is interested to speed up the development of the project to transport the petroleum from the Caspian Sea area via Romania to the Western Europe. The OMV group's chairman, Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, has announced willingness and interest of the company he runs to become involved in carrying out the next stages of the project. The Austrians' interest is justified because OMV's latest acquisition, Petrom, operates two large refineries that can process up to 8 million tonnes of petroleum a year. OMV is already the drive behind another major regional infrastructure project, the building of the gas duct between Turkey and Austria via Romania, where OMV owns 20% in the company in charge of the project. Rom anian natural gas carrier Transgaz Medias is involved in the project estimated at 4.6bn euros, as well. ZF