Austrian energy company OMV has announced that it is placing bets on opportunities in Iran as it retools its upstream portfolio for growth in the weakened energy sector.

Rainer Seele, OMV�s Chief Executive Officer, has described Iran as one of the main development region where his company plans to invest in the future in the face of the declining oil prices that he said have made the company�s North Sea oil fields less profitable. Other regions that he named are Russia and the UAE, the UPI has reported.

�With our new strategy, we will focus on cash and costs, pursue a sustainable position in upstream focusing on value over volume growth,� Seele has been quoted as emphasizing in a statement by Bloomberg.

In Iran, the company said it was evaluating the opportunities in at least two separate field development projects.

"OMV has never closed the office in Teheran, even in difficult times," Robert Lechner, a spokesman for the company, has been quoted as saying by the UPI. "We are in regular contact with Iranian representatives."

OMV was involved in certain oil and gas projects in Iran in the past.� In 2001, it opened an office in Tehran after it won a deal for exploration operations at Mehr block.� The company conducted a successful exploration and appraisal campaign over the project between 2002 and 2007. It accordingly engaged in talks for redevelopment of Cheshmeh-Khosh oil field with Iran in 2004.

OMV was at the same time pressing ahead with a major plan to pipe natural gas from the Caspian region to Europe through Iran and Turkey.� However, it had to leave Iran in 2008 after Iran was hit by the first wave of international sanctions.

By Press TV