Libyan oil operations closed since March, OMV says

VIENNA, May 13 (UPI) -- Operations in Libya for Austrian energy company OMV were curtailed sharply by security issues, CEO Gerhard Roiss said Tuesday.

OMV said its production for first quarter 2014 was 311,000 barrels oil equivalent higher year-on-year. Roiss said in a statement production from his company's portfolio in Norway helped offset losses from North Africa.

"Libyan operations ... were again impacted by security issues and production has been shut in since mid-March," he said in a statement. "We took several steps to further strengthen our upstream portfolio."

OMV said the situation in Libya remains "very difficult to predict."

Optimism over a rebound in the Libyan oil sector increased last month when the Libyan National Oil Company announced it lifted an emergency declaration on oil operations at its Zueitina terminal in the east of the country.

OMV, however, said production from its operations in Libya has been shut down since the middle of March. Its low-end production forecast for 2014 assumed no production from Libya going forward.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its May market report oil production from member state Libya was around 238,000 barrels per day, down slightly from the previous month. In 2012, it averaged 1.4 million bpd.