Drilling expected to begin in Black Sea

Beach Energy announced that drilling is expected to begin on the 01RX Cobalcescu South exploration well in Block EX-28 offshore Romania.

According to the company, the well will be spudded during Beach Energy’s August reporting period. The well is to be drilled by the GSP Prometeu jackup rig in 88 m of water and will be drilled to about 3100 m. Drilling is expected to take 60 days. The well is testing the hydrocarbon potential of Pontian (upper Miocene) aged sands at various levels with an unrisked mean prospective resource of 411Bcf.

There have been numerous discoveries offshore Romania including the recent Exxon Mobil and OMV Petrom Domino discovery in the adjacent block, with initial estimates being 1.5 to 3.0 Tcf.

Melrose Resources Romania is the operator of the well with 40% working interest. Beach Energy holds 30% interest, and Petromar retains the remaining 30%.