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.
Source: SeeNews