Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/16/2013 -- The exploration efforts of ExxonMobil and OMV Petrom in the Black Sea could signal a turning point in Romania's upstream outlook, helping reduce dramatically the country's gas import dependency from around 2018. International oil company (IOC) interest in Romania is now on the rise and, if exploited by the government, could result in much higher investment levels. Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta ha said that he supports shale gas exploration in the country, bringing hope to Chevron and other IOCs keen to investigate the country's significant shale gas potential.

The main trends and developments for Romania's oil and gas sector are:

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- Chevron has reaffirmed its commitment to developing Romania's shale gas resources following the country's rejection of a moratorium on shale gas exploration. The US group is the only holder of shale exploration licences in the country. The Romanian government officially cancelled a moratorium on shale gas exploration as it seeks to develop new sources of domestic production in order to counter both an imminent decline in the country's reserves and its growing dependency on Russian natural gas imports.
- Chevron, Singapore-based Raffles Energy and UK-based Zeta Petroleum have signed a deal to share data for their acreage in Romania. The companies will exchange well data relating to the 2,403 square kilometre (sq km) Suceava gas concession and the 6,284sq km Barlad concession. The companies, which have secured data exchange approval from Romania's National Agency for Minerals and Resources, will get access to certain data on each concession, including historic well and seismic data. Zeta and Raffles will assess the existing data for the Barlad concession, aimed at identifying conventional hydrocarbons targets in the area.
- ExxonMobil and OMV Petrom discovered natural gas with their Domino-1 deep water exploration well in the Romanian sector of the Black Sea, and early estimates of up to 85bn cubic metres (bcm) have been attributed to the prospect. The discovery well in the Neptun block, in water depths of approximately 1,000 metres (m), was drilled to a total depth of more than 3,000m. A 3D seismic programme is being conducted before further drilling takes place to prove-up the block's potential. If successful, first production is unlikely before 2018.
- OMV and ExxonMobil have said they expect to invest US$1bn in exploring a deep water section of the Black Sea off the coast of Romania, World Oil reports. The joint venture partners say the expenditure will be put towards an ongoing 3D seismic survey, due to be completed in Q213, and further exploratory drilling, which is expected to be completed by early 2014.

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