Romania's largest energy company OMV Petrom said it has started a new offshore drilling campaign in the shallow waters of the Istria block in the Black Sea.
The two new wells will be drilled more than 2,000 meters below the seabed, in approximately 50 meters water depth. The wells target additional production from the Lebada East field (oil and associated gas), discovered in 1979.
The drilling campaign will wrap up by the end of the year and require investments of over €30 million ($34 million), OMV Petrom said.
Peter Zeilinger, member of OMV Petrom’s Executive Board responsible for Upstream, said, “We are committed to Romania and we invest significant amounts to secure Romania’s energy supply. The Istria block in the shallow waters of the Black Sea has a history of over 30 years of oil and gas production. Although fields are mature and reached their plateau production years ago, sustained investment and adequate engineering solutions enable us to unlock additional resources and to mitigate production decline.”
According to OMV Petrom, the offshore drilling campaign comes in continuation of investment projects for offshore production in the shallow waters of the Black Sea: over €350 million ($395 million) were invested between 2014 and 2018, including drilling 10 new production wells and sidetracks, upgrading the gas compressor system and modernizing production facilities.