Vienna - The price for oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries shot up by 2.45 dollars Thursday, as oil and gasoline stocks in the United States were seen to be lower than expected.

One barrel (159 litres) of OPEC-produced crude stood at 42.95 dollars Thursday, the Vienna-based cartel announced Friday.

Oil prices continued to rise on Wednesday's news that US crude oil stocks had fallen for the second week and that gasoline stocks were also down, commodity analyst Carsten Fritsch at Commerzbank said in Frankfurt.

Bregenz, Austria  - A skier trapped under collapsed snow in far western Austria was saved when he was able to call for help with his mobile phone.

The 44-year-old Austrian man defied warnings of unstable snow Wednesday and went skiing at Golm near Tschagguns.

He skied out on a slab of snow that gave way, carrying him along for several metres and burying him under 20 centimetres of snow, police said.

Luckily, a cavity formed in the snow that allowed him to breath, and after 30 minutes, he was able to reach his mobile phone and call for help.

A short time later, rescuers were able to locate him and dig him out, thanks to his call and one of his hands that was protruding from the snow.

Vienna  - An elderly Austrian farming couple just managed to escape an avalanche sweeping down towards their house in Tyrol province Wednesday - after being warned by their cows.

According to local police, the couple took heed as the cows in the barn grew agitated.

The 68-year-old man and his 63-year-old wife just got out in time before the avalanche descended on the their property, leaving it under snow up five metres high. The animals were unhurt.

The heavy snowfall of the past few days saw a large number of avalanches triggered in the Austrian Alps Wednesday.

A man was killed in the Salzburg province when he was buried while snowboarding away from marked slopes.

Vienna - Austrian steelmaker voestalpine AG said Wednesday its net profit in the third business quarter fell by more than 50 per cent to 87 million euros (101 million dollars) and announced further job cuts.

Voestalpine said that owing to lower prices, it had to devalue for production materials. This led to a lower operating income of 196 million euros in the quarter ending in December, compared with 258 million euros in the same period of 2007.

Vienna - Austrian oil and gas group OMV AG on Wednesday reported that its annual net income fell 17 per cent to 1.53 billion euros (1.95 billion dollars), with the company turning into the red in the fourth quarter.

The drop in net earnings came despite a 7 per cent rise in operating income to 2.34 billion euros.

Annual sales rose to 25.54 billion euros, an increase of 27 per cent, said OMV, the Central and South-eastern European market leader in refining and marketing.