OMV Petrom taking over Han Asparuh offshore block in Bulgaria

TotalEnergies notified OMV Petrom of its decision to withdraw from the joint operating agreement and the Han Asparuh licence in the last quarter of 2023, OMV Petrom said in response to a SeeNews enquiry. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

OMV Petrom is continuing exploration activities in the licence, it added. The company's share in the block, through its wholly-owned subsidiary OMV Offshore Bulgaria GmbH, is currently 42.86%.

Last July, TotalEnergies EP Bulgaria managing director Yves Le Stunff said the Han Asparuh block is estimated to have the potential to produce a total of 13 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually from two fields. At the time, the project partners planned to start exploratory drilling for natural gas in the field in the second quarter of 2024.

In 2022, TotalEnergies and OMV Petrom received a two-year extension, until this year, of the oil and natural gas exploration permit for the 1-21 Han Asparuh offshore block.

OMV Petrom said in February that it plans to continue with preparations for the first drilling at the Neptun Deep offshore gas project in the Black Sea, which is expected in 2025. The project, jointly developed by OMV Petrom and Romanian state-owned gas producer Romgaz, borders the Han Asparuh field and is expected to cost 4 billion euro ($4.3 billion).

($ = 0.9212 euro)