The rush for oil and natural gas is over 100 year-old in Romania, with some of the reserves exploited today having reached maturity. Five years from the privatisation of Petrom, the only oil and gas producer in Romania, Austrians at OMV, Petrom's majority shareholder, say the biggest local company has limited chances of boosting its hydrocarbon production, and that such reserves can be found either very deep in the ground, or deep in the Black Sea.
"The oil business is an old one in Romania, with an average age of the Romanian oil and gas fields of 45 years. You cannot expect an old lady to run 100 metres in 10 seconds. In other words, the oil and gas production in Romania will increase only if we make a big discovery in the Black Sea, but that is a big if," explains Helmut Langanger, a member of the OMV executive board, responsible for exploration and production.
"Most of the wells in Romania have been drilled down to 2000 metres, with a few to 3000 and very few to 4000 meters and deeper. In the offshore a well down to 2000 metres in shallow water, costs around 10 million dollars while a well that goes down to 4000 meters or deeper is 20-30 million dollars, while in the deep water costs may exceed 50 million dollars. This is our goal, to go deeper, which is why we intend to drill 2-3 such deep onshore wells per year in Romania."
The rush for oil and natural gas is over 100 year-old in Romania, with some of the reserves exploited today having reached maturity. Five years from the privatisation of Petrom, the only oil and gas producer in Romania, Austrians at OMV, Petrom's majority shareholder, say the biggest local company has limited chances of boosting its hydrocarbon production, and that such reserves can be found either very deep in the ground, or deep in the Black Sea.
"The oil business is an old one in Romania, with an average age of th
