Lukoil discovers field with tentative reserves of 30 bcm of gas off coast of Romania
MOSCOW. Oct 14 (Interfax) - Lukoil Overseas Atash B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of Russian oil company Lukoil , has discovered a gas field at the Trident block off the coast of Romania.
Seismic data show that the area of the field could be up to 39 square km and it could have reserves of more than 30 billion cubic meters of gas, which needs to be confirmed with assessment drilling, the company said.
Lukoil Overseas Atash is the operator of the concession agreement for the block with a stake of 72%. The other partners are PanAtlantic Petroleum Ltd with 18% and Societatea Nationale de Gaze Naturale Romgaz S.A. with 10%.
One exploration well will be drilled at the Lira field in 2016, and seismic data will be processed to confirm the size of the discovery and clarify its hydrocarbon potential.
Geological exploration work at the Ex-30 block of Trident has been carried out since 2011. The sea depth within the block is 300-1,200 meters. The area of the block is 1,006 square kilometers. The Lira 1X well is located about 170 kilometers (90 miles) from the coast, and the depth of the water is about 700 meters.
"The well was drilled to a depth of 2,700 meters (8,858 feet) from the semi-submersible drilling rig TransOcean Development Driller II. The well was temporarily abandoned for further evaluation of the Lira gas discovery," Lukoil said.
"According to preliminary results of the analysis of drilling data and geophysical exploration, the Lira-1X delivered a productive interval with an effective gas-saturated thickness of 46 meters," the company said.
"The success of the Lira-1X well will reduce the risk for further exploration on a series of prospective sites with significant potential reserves, located both close to the Lira structure and in other parts of the block," Lukoil said.
Lukoil is drilling at two shelf blocks in Romanian territorial waters - Est Rapsodia and Trident. In its report for H1 2015, Lukoil wrote off expenses in the amount of $244 million for drilling wells in Romania, which turned out to be dry, but showed strong gas presence.
