Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

Offshore drilling by companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. in the Black Sea is set to intensify this year and may turn Romania into a net exporter of natural gas by 2020, according to a Wood Mackenzie report.

Deep-water developments including the Domino well drilled by Exxon and OMV Petrom SA “look set to dramatically influence the region’s gas supply dynamics and corporate landscape,” Wood Mackenzie analysts wrote in the report published Thursday.

Recent discoveries in Romanian territorial waters could boost the country’s output to 630 million cubic feet a day by 2020, according to the report. The extra flow may supply neighboring countries, particularly Hungary, where non- contracted demand may increase over the next decade to about 300 million cubic feet a day, the analysts said.

“There is likely to be a vigorous burst of upstream activity this year,” analyst Chris Meredith said in the report. “Romania’s gas supply looks set to diversify significantly.”

International explorers continue to invest in Black Sea drilling despite low oil prices and pressure to cut exploration budgets, according to the report.

Exxon Mobil continues to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the Pelican South and Dolphin wells, while Royal Dutch Shell Plc “spudded” its first well off the Turkish coast. Total SA, OMV AG and Repsol SA plan to drill a deep-water well off Bulgaria’s coast early next year, Wood Mackenzie said.