Romania's main oil company, OMV Petrom, announced this week the discovery of the largest oil and natural gas reserves in the country in recent decades. And in an unexpected area: in southern Romania, in a field that has been explored for many years.

That's why it came as such a surprise, given that areas close to production points are usually intensively analyzed and explored, given the likelihood that they contain crude oil, reports El Economista.

It turns out that this strip of land had never been explored before, with OMV Petrom investing 20 million euros in a 10-month drilling and exploration campaign.

Romania has been producing oil, gas and other refined products for several decades, but in recent years its production has been on a downward trend, due to the exhaustion of discoveries made throughout history. This new discovery, as the Spanish newspaper points out, could help Romania reduce the decline of this industry on its territory.

The US Department of Energy pointed out in its latest report on Romania that the country's oil production has been steadily declining over time. Romania's total oil and distillate production is now less than 100,000 barrels per day, down from 134,000 in 2003. Romania has the fourth largest reserves in Europe, with 600 million barrels of proven reserves.

"Romania has been producing crude oil and natural gas for more than 150 years and, under these conditions, identifying new resources requires a significant effort. The new discoveries will contribute to reducing the decline in our production and to continuing to supply essential products to the economy," said Cristian Hubati, OMV Petrom's director and head of the company's exploration and production activities, quoted by El Economista.