Lukoil starts seismic surveying off Romanian coast
MOSCOW. Sept 17 (Interfax) - Lukoil Overseas, Russian oil major Lukoil's international upstream operator, has begun doing 3D seismic surveying at two blocks in the Romanian sector of the Black Sea - Est Rapsodia and Trident.
Lukoil Overseas said in a statement that the work, which will continue until November, is being done by the geophysics company CGGVeritas, which won a tender to do so. Surveying will take place over up to 2,000 square kilometers.
The Est Rapsodia and Trident projects are being carried out by a consortium of operator Lukoil Overseas (80%) and Vanco International (20%). The consortium secured the rights to the projects in a tender held in June of 2010. The concession agreements for the projects were inked in February of last year and ratified by the Romanian government last October. Environmental impact studies have been done, public environmental hearings have been conducted, and the go-ahead has been granted by state and local authorities.
The Est Rapsodia and Trident blocks are located in Black Sea waters from 90 to 1,000 meters deep and 60 to 100 kilometers from shore. The nearest large city and port is Constanta. Lukoil Overseas offices have been opened in Bucharest for the management of these projects.
Lukoil plans to invest around $1.5 billion in extracting oil in Romania. Investment in geological prospecting, seeking and confirming reserves will take some $400 million over the next three years.
Lukoil owns the oil refinery Petrotel in Romania, with production capacity of 2.4 million tonnes, and a chain of three hundred filling stations.
