By Nicole Lundeen

VIENNA--Austrian oil and gas company OMV AG (OMV.VI) is to cut its investment program over the next three years and will fail to reach its daily production target of 400,000 barrels of oil equivalent day by 2016, it said Thursday.

The company now plans to invest between 2.5 billion euros and EUR3.0 billion a year ($2.84 billion-$3.4 billion) between 2015 and 2017, down from EUR3.9 billion a year for the 2014-2016 period. The majority of the investment will still go toward OMV's exploration and production business, it said in a trading statement.

"There has been a seismic shift for the industry in recent months. OMV has a responsibility to react accordingly and with caution," OMV's Chief Executive Gerhard Roiss said in a news release.

The reduction in investments mean there will be a delay in reaching OMV's 2016 production goal, Mr. Roiss said, while Chief Financial Officer David Davies said the company is prepared to cut investments further, if needed.

OMV's fourth-quarter earnings will also be hit with around EUR700 million in impairments and provisions relating to Petrol Ofisi in Turkey and a gas-fired power plant in Brazil, it said.

Total hydrocarbon production in the quarter rose 15% on the year earlier to 318,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day from 277,000 barrels. Most of the increase was driven by OMV's activities in Norway, the company said.

OMV said the gas market remained difficult in the fourth quarter. Gas sales and trading volumes increased on the year to 147.19 terawatt hours, up from 118.40 TWh in the year-earlier quarter. The increase was due solely to higher trading volumes, OMV said. OMV's indicator refining margin in the quarter was $5.19 a barrel, up from $1.16 a barrel a year ago, due to lower crude prices.

OMV will hold a conference call later Thursday and will release its 2014 earnings on Feb. 19.

Write to Nicole Lundeen at Nicole.Lundeen@wsj.com

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