* Refining margin to narrow in Q3
* Production target tough
* Expects to significantly increase 2010 earnings
(Adds details on outlook, shares, oil price)
By Eva Komarek and Sylvia Westall
VIENNA, Oct 12 (Reuters) - OMV's refining margin narrowed in the third quarter after improvement in the previous period, the Austrian oil and gas group's chief executive said on Tuesday.
OMV, the biggest energy company operating in emerging Europe, releases its third-quarter trading statement on Oct. 21. Its refining margin was $3.39 in the second quarter thanks to better prices for products such as heating oil and diesel.
"The second quarter was quite good, it has deteriorated in the third quarter," CEO Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer told the Reuters Central European Investment Summit in Vienna.
Ruttenstorfer said he hoped the refining margin would improve again in the fourth quarter but that it was too early to say. In the long term he sees refining margins improving.
"You will see further improvements between 2010-2012, absolutely," said Ruttentorfer, who steps down next year, predicting margins of $4-5 in the long term.
OMV will struggle to reach its 2010 production target of 325,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), he said.
"There will be an increase. But to reach the 325,000, we are still struggling," he said.
OMV was not planning any acquisitions in the second half in order to boost production but would try to expand it using its current assets, Ruttenstorfer said.
"We will try to squeeze out whatever we can in order to come close to our target." OMV hopes to get all of its countries producing 25,000 to 30,000 boed, he said.
OUTLOOK
Ruttenstorfer did not give a firm outlook for 2010 earnings but said there would be "significant improvement" on last year.
Analysts on average expect 2010 earnings before interest and tax of 2.468 billion euros, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
"We leave it to the analysts to calculate specific numbers. We don't give any forecasts, but the analysts are well educated and have a good database."
Shares in the Vienna-based company closed 0.8 percent lower at 28.15 euros. They have fallen 7.5 percent since the start of the year, in line with the Stoxx Europe 600 Oil and Gas index.
In terms of its markets, OMV has seen some comeback of energy demand in central Europe, Ruttenstorfer said.
"We still have no rebound in south-eastern Europe, neither on the oil side, nor on the gas side. We have some positive developments in Turkey," he said.
Ruttenstorfer said OMV was not planning any large acquisitions but was looking at opportunities to expand in existing markets.
OMV dropped plans to take over Turkey's Petrol Ofisi last year but says it still remains interested.
It acquired Romanian Petrom in 2004 but was hit badly by a failed takeover attempt of Hungarian rival MOL.
"We are looking at a couple (of targets) but not big acquisitions. They would be small or mid-sized," he said. (Editing by Michael Shields)