!!!Erdöl

b. H. Systematic exploration started around 1925, at first for the 
Vacuum Oil Company. Two further foreign companies, Steinberg-Naphta 
(with French capital) and the German Raky-Danubia company engaged in 
prospecting in the years that followed. The first successful borehole 
(Goesting II) was drilled in 1934, where 30 tons of crude oil per 
day were extracted from a depth of 926 m. In consequence, Shell 
and Vacuum Oil jointly formed Rohoelgewinnungs-AG.

\\
Crude oil recovery was stepped up considerably between 1938 and 1945. 
On the basis of the decisions of the Potsdam Conference of 1945 the 
Soviet occupational force in 1946 declared approximately 95% of the 
petroleum and natural gas operations in Austria to constitute  German 
Assets and founded the Soviet Mineral Oil Administration, which was 
entrusted with further operations. It was not until the conclusion of 
the State Treaty that the Austrian petroleum and  natural gas fields 
became the property of the Republic of Austria (August 1955), which 
also put the  Nationalisation Acts of 1946 and 1947 into effect. The 
Soviet Administration was succeeded in 1955 by the government-owned 
Austrian Mineral Oil Administration (Oesterreichische 
Mineraloelverwaltung AG -OeMV). Following preparatory work that had 
started in 1947, exploration began in the Alpine fore-lands of Upper 
Austria and Salzburg, at first by RAG and since 1965 also by OeMV (now 
OMV).

\\
By the end of 1997 a total of 107 million tons of crude oil had been 
recovered in Austria. The maximum was reached in 1955, when annual 
production reached 3.66 million tons; at present, annual 
production merely amounts to roughly one third of this quantity (1997: 
0.93 million tons). In 1997 crude oil was from 790 oil fields in 
Lower and Upper Austria. The most important areas by far are the 
Vienna Basin with its geologically complex stratigraphic structure and 
the Upper Austrian  molasse zone in Upper Austria. The largest oil 
field is at Matzen, Lower Austria (OMV, discovered in 1949), followed 
by Kemating (municipality of Lohnsburg am Kobernausserwald), 
Voitsdorf, and Sattledt (all of them operated by RAG, Upper Austria). 
In 1999, approximately 37% of the crude oil contained in pores and 
crevices could be extracted. In order to increase output, water is 
injected into the oil deposits ("secondary oil production"). 
Approximately one third of the annual output is obtained in this way. 
Further innovations include horizontal drilling, which also helps to 
increase yield. In Austria, this technique was first used successfully 
in the northern part of the Vienna Basin in autumn 1991 
("Steinberg 20h", with an output of 45 tons/day). All 
of the crude oil extracted is processed in the Schwechat refinery of 
OMV, which has a throughput capacity of 
10 million tons/year.

\\
While total demand was still met from domestic sources in 1958, the 
share of domestic output had declined to 15.1 % by 1980, to 
14.5 % by 1990 and to 11.0 % by 1997.

\\
Petroleum transport is in considerable measure effected through 
pipelines, including the Transalpine Oelleitung (TAL) from Trieste 
(Italy) via Carinthia, Salzburg and Tirol to Ingolstadt (Germany); and 
the Adriatic-Vienna pipeline (Adria-Wien-Pipeline - AWP) which 
branches off the TAL pipeline at Wuermlach, Carinthia, and delivers 
imported crude oil to the Schwechat refinery. In connection with the 
AWP pipeline a tank store was erected at Lannach, Styria. Further 
storage facilities are located at St. Valentin (Lower Austria), 
Lobau (Vienna) and Krift bei Kremsmuenster (Upper Austria).

\\
"Proved and probably extractable reserves" of crude oil in Austria 
amounted to approximately 8.4 million tons in 1997.

!Literature
F. Brix and O. Schultz (eds.), Erdoel und Erdgas in 
Oesterreich, %%sup 2/%1993.


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