Moscow, July 6 (Interfax) - A consortium of Lukoil Overseas and Vanco International of the United States has won a tender for the rights to the Rapsodia and Trident offshore sections in the Romanian sector of the Black Sea, the Romania Business Insider newspaper said, quoting the National Mineral Resources Agency.
Agreements to develop the properties will be signed in February 2011. The planned contract duration is 30 years, but the contracts can be terminated early if geologists do not find oil. The paper says exploration could take three-to-ten years.
Romania owns 9,800 square km of a disputed 12,400 square km of the offshore properties, which are also claimed by Ukraine. It is thought the properties contain 100 billion cubic meters of gas and 10 million tonnes of oil. This was Romania’s first tender for offshore rights.
The press office of Lukoil Overseas did not comment on the report.
Lukoil owns the 2.4 million tpa Petrotel refinery and 300 filling stations in Romania.
It and Vanco also have two deep-water projects in the Gulf of Guinea.
