Romanian Oil/Gas Group Petrom Starts Oil Production at Two New Offshore Wells

Test results have confirmed the potential of both wells to deliver together more than 4,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) by the end of this year, Petrom, majority owned by Austria’s OMV, said in a statement.

The cumulated production of the two new wells accounts for approximately 10% of Petrom’s daily offshore production, which stands at 32,000 boe/d. Reaching the maximum production at the two wells will enable Petrom to increase the output from the offshore facilities to more than 33,000 boe/d and to extend the economic lifetime of the facilities. 

“This recent production start-up on Delta field in the second half of this year is a great achievement, taking into consideration the technical difficulties we have experienced during drilling Delta 6. As the concept of extended reach drilling has proved to be successful, Delta 6 might become our most valuable well in Romania,” Johann Pleininger, Petrom Executive Board Member responsible for Exploration and Production, said in the statement.

Delta 6 covers now a horizontal distance of 3,500 metres to the reservoir at a total well length of more than 4,600 metres. The well, which started production through the existing Petrom offshore facilities at Platform 7 in the first part of the third quarter, is currently producing at a reduced testing rate of approximately 2,200 boe/d until the expansion of the surface facilities is finalised. The maximum rate of 3,400 boe/d is expected to be reached in the last quarter of this year.

The Lebada Vest 4 well was brought on stream towards the end of August and is currently producing 900 boe/d.

Romanian Black Sea exploration in near-shore areas started in 1969. The first hydrocarbon discovery was made in 1980 and the first production started in 1987.

Petrom is currently operating two offshore blocks - Histria XVIII and Neptun XIX , covering an area of 13,880 square kilometres. It is operating five producing commercial fields - Lebada Est, Lebada Vest, Sinoe, Pescarus and Delta - and its production reaches around 32,000 boe/d, which accounts for approximately 18%  of the company’s production in Romania.

Blue chip Petrom’s shares are listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange where they closed 2.31% down at 0.254 lei ($0.087/0.06 euro) on Monday.

Petrom reported a 45% year-on-year drop to 923 million lei in its first-half net profit. First-half turnover fell by 28% on the year to 5.9 billion lei. The group expects its 2009 net profit to rise by 8.8% to 1.1 billion lei after falling 43% last year.

(1 euro = 4.2724 Romanian lei)