Netherlands' Marexin may put $1 bln into oil, gas production in Georgia
TBILISI. March 30 (Interfax) - The Dutch company Marine Resources Exploration International B.V. (Marexin), winner of international tenders for the right to extract oil and gas from two blocks on Georgia's Black Sea shelf, is prepared to put over $1 billion into their development.
Head of Georgia's National Agency for Oil and Gas (NAOG) Georgy Tatishvili told Interfax, "The Dutch company has pretty ambitious plans for opening both licensed blocks where, according to the initial data, there should be more gas in crystallized form."
"As a bonus, Marexin will pay $2.5 million for the licenses. If the research produces positive results, the company is planning to invest more than $1 billion," Tatishvili said.
The company plans to study the gas reserves and determine exactly where they lie, which will take about four years, he said.
Negotiations between NAOG and Marexin have entered the completion stage, Tatishvili said, and "only the coordination of several technical details remains." Both contracts could conceivably be completed by the end of April.
The blocks Marexin won the license rights to back in September and December are II-D (3,556 km2) and H (2,160 km2). Marexin belongs to DP Holding, all of the stock of which is owned by Romanian businessman Dinu Patriciu, founder of the oil company Rompetrol.