Austrian integrated oil firm OMV and Abu Dhabi-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (Ipic) have signed a memorandum of understanding to pursue upstream energy projects in the Middle East, North Africa and Caspian Sea. Under the terms of the deal, the two firms will work together to share knowledge and expertise to assess their participation in regional upstream opportunities. In the past two months Ipic has purchased a stake in Japan's Cosmo Oil and agreed to build a new refinery in Pakistan (MEED 21:9:07).