French company Total expects to start drilling for gas and oil in the
deep water block Han Asparuh off the Bulgarian Black Sea coast in the
second half of 2015. The exact quantities of the supposed hydrocarbons
in the block, however, are not yet known and it is yet to become clear
whether there is both oil and gas. Walter Kosi, exploration manager at
OMV Offshore Bulgaria, and Xavier Faugeras, general manager at Total
E&P Bulgaria, revealed the progress of the project during the Second
Annual Regional Forum “Natural Gas: Infrastructure, Markets and
Services” held today by the Bulgarian Federation of Industrial Energy
Consumers in Sofia, Bulgaria. Together with Spain's Repsol, Total and
OMV won a bid for the exploration of Han Asparuh block in July 2012.
In
order to obtain data about the statistics-poor exploration area, OMV
carried out the largest so far 3D seismic research for the entire Black
Sea covering an area of 3,800 sq. km.
“The Black Sea is
fairly underdeveloped compared to other oil and gas areas such as the
Gulf of Mexico. In 2014 in the Black Sea there were just two rigs, seven
deep water wells and about 200 in the shelf”, Walter Kosi explained,
adding that OMV also used its experience with the successful Domino well
in the Romanian block Neptun which is adjacent to Han Asparuh.