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The find, in the Zola-1 well some 100 kilometres (62 miles) off the Australian coast, "is one of OMV's biggest gas discoveries," OMV board member Jaap Huijskes said in a statement.
Further studies were planned starting in mid-2011 to assess more accurately the gas field's capacity, OMV added.
A company spokeswoman told AFP however that it could be comparable to the Sawan gas field in Pakistan, which was discovered in 1998 and has reserves of some 45 billion cubic metres (1.59 trillion cubic feet).
Besides its core business in central Europe, OMV also has numerous operations in northern Europe, north Africa, the Middle East, central Asia and Oceania.