EBRD mulls $23.4 mln equity investment in Romania's Black Sea Oil & Gas

BSOG is the operator of the Romanian offshore Blocks Pelican XIII and Midia XV containing the Ana and Doina gas discoveries.

"The project will support the development of the concession, to finalise the commercial feasibility of the Ana and Doina gas prospects and expand its resources with further exploration," the EBRD said in a press release.

Through the possible investment, EBRD aims to support the development of the private upstream oil and gas company in Romania and provide assistance to the government in improving legal and regulatory framework for offshore oil and gas operations and building regulatory capacity for the industry.

The total cost of the project was estimated at $82 million.

The financing proposal has passed structure review and is currently pending final review.

In November last year, BSOG, formerly known as Midia Resources, said it expects to reach a final investment decision on the development of two gas discoveries on XV Midia Shallow Block offshore Romania in 2017.

Also then, BSOG said that it awarded the contract for the front-end engineering and design of its offshore and onshore facilities for the development of the gas discoveries to integrated services company Xodus Group.

Black Sea Oil & Gas SRL, wholly owned by multinational private equity Carlyle International Energy Partners, is a Bucharest-headquartered independent oil and gas company, targeting exploration and development of conventional oil and gas resources. The company’s current portfolio is made up of XV Midia Shallow Block and XIII Pelican Block concession in the Romanian Black Sea where it is the operator and holds a 65% interest.

In August 2015, Canada's Sterling Resources sold Midia Resources to The Carlyle Group for a headline consideration of $42.5 million.

($=0.8525 euro)