Austrian energy group OMV's output from Libya has reached half the level it was before the civil war halted production, chief executive Gerhard Roiss said.

"At the moment we are at 50 per cent of the pre-war level," or at around 17,000 barrels per day, he said, reiterating his view that it would take 12-15 months from the end of hostilities to restore full output.

Output in Yemen remains shut given the damage to pipelines there, he said, adding "the political situation there remains very difficult". Yemen provided 6,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2010.

Roiss provided no new details about the status of the Nabucco pipeline project that aims to bring Caspian gas to Europe, saying its future was largely out of OMV's hands given the geopolitical factors at play.

"Nabucco is not a central element of our strategy," he added, saying the important thing was getting gas from the Caspian region to customers in OMV's markets rather than which pipeline got used for this.

"We are very interested in Nabucco," he said. "Any pipeline that ends in (Austrian gas terminal) Baumgarten is important for our country, for Europe," he said.

Nabucco's shareholders are OMV, Germany's RWE, Hungary's MOL, Turkey's Botas, BEH of Bulgaria and Romania's Transgaz.

Nabucco and a Russian-designed pipeline South Stream, as well as other projects, are all vying for Azeri gas from the Shah Deniz field to boost fuel supplies to southern Europe.

Undermined by spiralling cost estimates and delays, the EU-backed Nabucco project aims to bring in up to 31 billion cubic metres of gas a year from the Caspian region.-Reuters