Lower Austria Dreams of Oil December 29, 2023
In late October (with incredibly nice weather for the season) I went on a Geocaching and photography walk with Eva at the Hochleithenwald. The area would be a rather unremarkable (if nice) forest in lower Austria where it not for the oilfields underneath. The forest is easily spotted on maps or satellite images because a (rather uncommon for Austria) grid of paths has been built to support the pumpjacks built in the 1980s by OMV. Oil production in the wider area has been around quite a bit longer, starting with an exploration boom in the 1930 and peaking in 1955. Currently extraction is expected to continue for another 20 years.
As you might gleam from the images I found the contrast between 1980 oil extraction equipment and the rather peaceful landscape with vineyards, small villages and moss covered shacks quite interesting.
Pumpjacks Hiding
Groß-Schweinbarth
Old Signage
Central Collection Facility
Pumphaus
Oil Well
Group of Pumpjacks
