Results of Deep Drilling in Austria

Abstract

Austria is a small country in the heart of Europe and most foreigners have problems in not calling it Australia; even if they heard of it before, they think of Johann Strauss waltzes and the world-famous Sacher-Torte. Very few — even in the oil business — know that the deepest wildcats in the search for hydrocarbons worldwide, outside of the USA, have been drilled here. Oil and gas exploration in Austria started early this century in 1909. Galicia, at that time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ranked third in world oil production. In 1934 the first commercial oil discovery was made in Austria, within the borders as we know them today. By 1943 the annual production passed the 1 million tons per year mark and in 1956 Austria produced more than 3.6 million tons of crude oil. Because of the intensive exploration programs during the 1940’s and 1950’s our company, the OeMV Aktiengesellschaft, was forced to drill deeper and deeper.