Lukoil begins the drilling in the Romanian Black Sea for the gas fields

By Edwig Ban
After achievement permission from the Romanian authorities, Lukoil, the third investor interested in the Black Sea gas, will start drilling this autumn and will be carried out by a platform of the Italian company Saipem.
Italian company Saipem, specializing in offshore drilling, announced that it has won two contracts, worth $ 160 million, for drilling, one in Anu Dhab and one in the Black Sea, without indicating clinics from which received these contracts.
According to the company’s press release, drilling in the Black Sea is expected to start in the last quarter of the year, and will be done with a semisubmersible platform, Scarabeo 9.
The platform was contracted by the Russian company Lukoil, for the drilling campaign in its perimeter in the Romanian Black Sea area, the Trident perimeter, matching market sources.
The Trident perimeter is owned by 87.8% by Lukoil (the Russian company is the operator) and the rest by Romgaz, a company controlled by the Romanian state.
Last fall, it was reported that Lukoil, who was very discreet about the Black Sea operations, began the second phase of the project, a drilling campaign in which several wells would be dug. That, after 2015, Romgaz had published an estimate of the potential reserves in that perimeter.
“According to the preliminary results of the analysis of the data obtained during the drilling, as well as the geophysical investigations, the LIRA-1X probe encountered a gas tank with a thickness of 46 meters. According to seismic data, the surface of the reservoir can reach 39 square km, and the reserves to be confirmed by the assessment drill can exceed 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas, “Romgaz said.
In the spring of this year, Profit.ro reports that the drilling works of the future Trinity-1X exploration well would begin in September 2019, after obtaining all necessary approvals, and are scheduled to last about 3 months. If the exploration results will be satisfactory, in 2020 and 2021 Lukoil will also force two wells, A1 and A2.
According to sources from the oil industry, Lukoil obtained an archaeological discharge certificate last week, so there are no obstacles to starting exploration work.