Page 12 - FSUOGM Week 07 2021

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM

Naftogaz brings OMV Petrom on board

for Black Sea exploration

UKRAINE UKRAINIAN gas firm Naftogaz has sought and reputable partner who brings investment
assistance from Austro-Romanian counterpart capacity, expertise and relevant experience in
The government OMV Petrom to explore the Black Sea. the region."
provided Naftogaz with The pair have signed a memorandum of OMV Petrom has built up considerable Black
access to the shelf after understanding (MoU) on joint exploration and Sea experience in Romania, where it is partnered
failing to find a private production activities, Naftogaz said on February with US major ExxonMobil at the 84-bn cubic
investor. 15. They will start analysing opportunities for metre Neptun Deep gas discovery. Even though
co-operation at specific sites, it said. that project has faced delays, owing to increased
Naftogaz has requested some 36 special per- taxes and sales restrictions imposed by Romania
mits to explore the Black Sea, after authorities in 2018, OMV Petrom is still eager to expand in
decided last November to let the company work the Black Sea.
in the area without having to go through a tender OMV Petrom kicked off a new drilling cam-
process. paign in January at Romania’s offshore Istria
The government took this step after failing block. Last year it also acquired a 43% stake in
to attract a private investor for offshore work. the Han Asparuh block in Bulgarian waters adja-
Ukraine’s subsoil service held a contest for rights cent to Neptun Deep from its parent OMV. An
to 9,500 square km of the Black Sea, known oil discovery was made at the Total-operated site
as the Dolphin contract area, in 2019. A Lon- in 2015, and OMV Petrom’s move appears aimed
don-based company called Trident Resources at improving Neptun Deep’s economic case by
with no past experience of oil and gas explora- adding more resources to the project.
tion was selected as the winner. But the govern- OMV Petrom also won a contest last June to
ment later cancelled the award, saying it wanted explore a 5,282-square km area offshore Georgia,
an investor with better credentials. and began negotiations for a production-sharing
The auction had been due to be restaged, with agreement (PSA) for the site in October. Unlike
investors given more time to submit their bids, Bulgaria and Romania, Georgia is yet to make
but this plan was put on hold in light of the coro- any oil and gas finds in the Black Sea.
navirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In the mean- Ukraine once boasted offshore gas pro-
time, Naftogaz has been lobbying aggressively duction but these fields were seized during the
for its own access to the country’s shelf. annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by Russia
"Attracting international investors is an in 2014. Even so, Naftogaz has expressed hope
important contributor to achiev[ing] gas inde- that a further 1-2 trillion cubic metres of gas
pendence for Ukraine by 2030," Naftogaz's could be recovered from Ukrainian-controlled
chief operating officer Otto Waterlander com- waters, although drilling is needed to determine
mented. "We believe OMV Petrom is a valuable whether such a claim is credible. ™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 07 17•February•2021