Romanian National Agency for Mineral Resources has endorsed the Development Plan for OMV Petrom's Domino and Pelican South commercial natural gas fields in the Neptun Deep offshore block in the Black Sea.
"Consequently, the Neptun Deep project enters the development phase, which includes the execution of drilling activities and construction of the infrastructure necessary for the extraction of natural gas, with the first production estimated for 2027," OMV Petrom said.
OMV Petrom is the operator of the project, with a 50% participating interest. Its partner is Romgaz.
The infrastructure required for the development of the Domino and Pelican South offshore natural gas commercial fields includes ten wells, three subsea production systems and associated flow lines, one offshore platform, the main natural gas pipeline to a natural gas metering station near Tuzla.
The offshore platform, wells and the fields will be operated remotely, through a digital twin. This allows for process optimization and will contribute to the improvement of our environmental performance, by making energy consumption more efficient and minimizing emissions.
The Neptun Deep block in the Black Sea has an area of 7,500 square km and is located about 160 km far from the shore, in water depths between 100 and 1,000 meters in the development area.
In June 2023, OMV Petrom and Romgaz approved the development plan for the Domino and Pelican South commercial natural gas fields in the Neptun Deep block.
The project will be the largest natural gas project in the Romanian Black Sea and will supply approximately 100bcm of natural gas. First gas is estimated for 2027, and Romania will then become the largest gas producer in the EU. Production at the plateau will be approximately 8 bcm annually (~140,000 boe/d), for almost 10 years.
OMV Petrom is the operator, with each company having a 50% interest in the project. They will invest up to EUR 4 billion for the development phase of the project.