Romanian oil and gas
group OMV Petrom
[BSE:SNP] said on Friday
it plans to invest
some 32 million euro
($35 million) in the
redevelopment of
Independenta oil field
in the southeastern
county of Galati in the
2015-2016 period.The
total investment
required for the
FRD Independenta Phase 1
project to unlock
additional oil
reserves stands at 42
million euro, of which
around 10 million euro
were invested in
2012-2014, the company
said in a statement.
The project entered
execution phase in
2014, after a number of
specific studies were
performed.
"Continued investments
in Upstream are
essential for ensuring
oil and gas production
for Romania, given that
we operate a portfolio
of fields with an
average annual natural
decline rate of around
10%," Gabriel Selischi,
member of OMV Petrom
Executive Board,
responsible for
Upstream, said in the
statement.
However, this year the
investments will reflect
deteriorated market
conditions and volatile
environment, he added.
Independenta is a mature
oil field, in production
since 1959, and is one
of the most important
fields in OMV Petrom’s
portfolio, ensuring in
2014 around 7% of the
company’s oil production
in Romania.
The purpose of this
field redevelopment is
to increase oil
production from
Independenta field by
drilling in previously
non-developed areas. The
project consists of
drilling 13 horizontal
wells, construction and
modernisation of
collecting and metering
points and the
construction of a tie-in
pipeline between them.
Four of the 13 wells
have already been
drilled.
At the end of 2014 , OMV
Petrom had in its
portfolio 12
redevelopment projects
in development phase,
covering gas and oil
fields, both onshore and
offshore. The additional
recoverable reserves
corresponding to the 12
projects amount to
around 130
million barrels of oil
equivalent.
Blue chip OMV Petrom,
part of Austria's OMV
group, is the largest
integrated oil and gas
group in Southeastern
Europe, with oil and
gas production of
approximately 66
million boe in 2014. The
group has a refining
capacity of 4.5 million
of tonnes per year
and operates an 860 MW
high efficiency power
plant and a 45 MW wind
park. It
had some 780 filling
stations in Romania
and neighboring countries
at end-2014.