September 11 (SeeNews) - The Bulgarian government said it has granted permission to Petroceltic Bulgaria, a subsidiary of Luxembourg-based exploration and production company Petroceltic SARL, to drill a new exploitation well within the Galata natural gas concession block in the Black Sea.
The permission was granted for a period of six months starting from the date of the decision, the government said in a press release on Thursday.
Petroceltic has been allowed to use two ships, GSP Saturn and GSP Licorn, to carry out activities related to transportation, hydrotechnical and underwater engineering works at the Galata gas field, according to the statement.
Bulgaria awarded a 25-year concession for the Galata exploration block to Petroceltic in 2001. In January, the former caretaker government extended by 15 years Petroceltic's concession for the Black Sea natural gas block Kavarna East. It also granted a six-month permission to the upstream oil and gas company to use the two ships to drill a new exploitation well within the concession area of the Galata block, so as to increase natural gas production.