UPDATE 1-OMV hopes to inject equity into Petrom this year

VIENNA, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Austrian energy group OMV hopes to inject equity into Romanian unit Petrom this year and sees good prospects for the unit in 2010, OMV's chief executive said on Wednesday.

'We would be committed to inject equity into the company at any point in time, we hope that this will be possible in 2010,' Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer told journalists in a panel discussion.

'We regard Romania as a highly attractive investment area, we will continue to invest in this area.'

Ruttenstorfer said it was unlikely OMV would meet its 2010 group production target of 350,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, echoing comments from OMV's exploration and production chief in November.

'Romania is not to blame,' Ruttenstorfer said, adding the overall target was simply too optimistic at the time. The Vienna-based group will publish its fourth-quarter trading update on Jan. 29.

(Reporting by Sylvia Westall; Editing by David Holmes) Keywords: OMV PETROM/ ([e-mail]; Vienna Newsroom: [phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.