Shell Starts Exploratory Drilling off Bulgaria

Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Royal Dutch Shell said on Tuesday it will start drilling an exploration well in a block off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast next month for oil and gas.

Shell has teamed up with Spain's Repsol and Australia's Woodside Energy after sealing a contract with Bulgaria in 2016 for deepwater exploratory drilling as part of Sofia efforts to end its almost complete reliance on Russia's natural gas supplies. It is Shell's only upstream project in Bulgaria.

"With partners and with good data... we started preparation for drilling 18 months ago. This month the rig will move on to the location and we expect to start drilling on April 1," Alexander Kayes, Shell's Bulgaria venture manager, told reporters.

Drilling of the exploration well in the 1-14 Khan Kubrat block in the Black Sea will be at a depth of 1,300 meters and is expected to take about three months, he said.

In November, French oil giant Total and its partners Austria's OMV and Repsol started drilling a third well in a block next to Shell's block in the Black Sea.


(Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova; Editing by Susan Fenton)

Categories: Deepwater Drilling Activity Europe

Related Stories

Japan Protests China’s New Oil and Gas Construction Activities in East China Sea

CNOOC Signs Hydrocarbons Exploration and Production Deal with Kazakhstan

Azeri SOCAR Plans New Agreements with Oil and Gas Majors

Velesto’s Jack-Up Rig Set for Drilling Job off Indonesia

Velesto’s Jack-Up Rig Up for Drilling Job Offshore Vietnam

Turkey Discovers New Black Sea Gas Reserve

EnQuest Bags Two Production Sharing Contracts off Indonesia

Borr Drilling Bags Three New Assignments for its Jack-Up Drilling Rigs

VARD Snags $125M Shipbuilding Deal for Subsea Construction Vessel

Valeura Wraps Up Infill Drilling Campaign in Gulf of Thailand

Current News

Centrica and Thailand’s PTT Ink Long-Term LNG Supply Deal

Petrovietnam, Partners Sign PSC for Block Off Vietnam

Japan Protests China’s New Oil and Gas Construction Activities in East China Sea

CNOOC Signs Hydrocarbons Exploration and Production Deal with Kazakhstan

Thailand's PTT to Buy LNG from Glenfarne's Alaska LNG Project

Woodside and Jera Agree LNG Cargoes Supply for Japan’s Winter Period

Petronas Expands Suriname Portfolio with Deepwater Block Acquisition

Japanese Oil and Gas Firm Enters Two Blocks off Malaysia

Yinson Production, “K” LINE Target Europe's CCS with FSIU and LCO2 Solutions

Woodside Agrees Long-Term LNG Supply with Petronas Unit

Subscribe for AOG Digital E‑News

AOG Digital E-News is the subsea industry's largest circulation and most authoritative ENews Service, delivered to your Email three times per week

https://accounts.newwavemedia.com