TIRANA (Albania), January 8 (SeeNews) – Shell Upstream Albania, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, has started drilling an oil appraisal well in the southern Albanian mountain of Shpirag, its fourth in the area, the national agency of natural resources (AKBN) said.
The Shpirag-4 drilling is part of an agreement signed between Shell and the Albanian government for hydrocarbon exploration in blocks 2 and 3, AKBN said in a press release on Saturday.
The Shpirag-4 is classified as a deep well and is the fourth drilled by Shell Upstream Albania, the previous ones being Shpirag-2, Molisht-1 and Shpirag-3, according to AKBN.
The drilling started after the company carried out seismic and general geological studies, the statement added.
The Shpirag oil deposit, discovered by Shell within blocks 2-3, is at a depth of 6,000 to 7,000 metres.
Albania has oil reserves of 220 million barrels and natural gas reserves of 5.7 billion cubic metres. The Patos-Marinza oil field near the southwestern city of Fier is the largest onshore field in continental Europe.