Bulgaria expects to select a contractor for oil and natural gas
exploration in blocks 1-14 Silistar and 1-22 Teres in the continental shelf and
the country's exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea by the end of August, the
chairman of the parliamentary energy committee said on Tuesday.
The
tenders for the exploration of the two blocks have already begun, Delyan Dobrev
said at the ninth annual meeting of business and the government, organised in
Sofia by Economedia.
“We hope by the middle of the year, July-August at
the latest, to have completed the procedure and to have successfully selected a
company, which would explore the blocks,” Dobrev said during the
conference.
He said there was a prospect of having oil and natural gas at
the two blocks.
In December last year, the Bulgarian government said it
plans to open tenders for exploration in the two blocks, granting five-year
permits.
At the time, it said potential investors will have to pay an
annual fee of 275,720 levs ($163,361/140,974 euro) for the Silistar block, which
covers an area of 6,893 sq km, while for the Teres block, with an area of 4,032
sq km, the annual fee is set at 161,280 levs.
In the 2002-2007 period,
US-based Vintage Petroleum International conducted limited exploration in the
two blocks in compliance with a permit it had been granted.
In 2013, the
government cancelled a tender to grant a permit for oil and gas exploration in
the 1-22 Teres block after it failed to attract any bidders.
Bulgaria
imports almost all the natural gas it needs from Russia through a pipeline
crossing the territories of Ukraine, Moldova and Romania.